Humayun’s Tomb

We took the six o’clock train from Agra to Delhi this morning. The train schedules are to be taken as guidelines only it seems. The train seems to leave on time, but on both the trip to and from Agra the train was late arriving by well over an hour. My Canadian sense of time and schedules is offended, especially since it’s only supposed to be a two or three hour train ride. Ah well, this is India and you shrug and take it as it comes.

After arrival and lunch, we headed off to Humayun’s Tomb. It was a tomb that was built in the sixteenth century, just before the Taj Mahal was built and you can see some similarities between the two structures.

Inside Humayun’s Tomb were several graves, but of course Humayun’s was in the centre. The interior had a lot of stone “lace” work so that the light could pass into the building. It was beautiful to see the sunlight streaming in.

There were actually several ancient tombs and mosques on the site. The grounds were quite quiet so it was nice to stroll about and enjoy exploring.

There was a very large green space surrounding the main tomb and quiet pathways shaded by large trees with gnarled trunks. Nadim and I had a seat at a park bench while Yasmin and Roya chased chipmunks and climbed one of the trees. They climbed the tree for about 20 minutes before a security guard noticed and said for the girls not to climb the tree.... Oops.

We had chai outside the wall surrounding the tomb. Yasmin and Roya have really taken a liking to it. We can no longer satisfy them with a couple of sips from our cups. They have graduated to having their own.

We’re off on an early flight to Bangalore tomorrow morning, and from there we’ll catch a train to Mysore. We’ve got some contacts there so that should be helpful in getting ourselves settled. We plan to be in the Mysore area for almost two months so we’re hoping to find a furnished apartment or something of the like, preferably with internet access.

CM