Amber Fort, near Jaipur, Rajasthan

Just a quick one, have hundreds of new photos to sort through.

Taj Mahal, Agra, Uttar Pradesh

Agra, in Uttar Pradesh state, is the home of the Taj Mahal. It was, with Delhi, one of the capitals of the Mughal empire. The Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan, the 5^th of the Great Mughals, in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal (Jewel of the Palace), who died during the birth of her 14^th child aged 39. It was completed in 1654.

The tomb itself is made out of white marble, with 2 identical red sandstone buildings on either side- a mosque on the west and the Jawab (or answer) on the other side for symmetry, which could not be used as a mosque as it faces away from Mecca.

It was thought that Shah Jahan originally intended to build his own tomb on the opposite side of the Yamuna River in black marble, with a bridge made of alternating white and black marble blocks connecting the two. However, he ended up being buried, after spending his last days a prisoner of his son Aurangzeb, in the Taj Mahal as well.

Update

Apologies for the paucity of posts of late, finding an internet connection that does not leave me tearing my hair out in impatience has been more difficult than in Kolkata. In the past week I've whizzed through Delhi, Agra, Fatipur Sikri, Jaipur and Amber, spending way too little time in each place, and just seeing the requisite tourist sights. One nice thing about living in Kolkata was the lack of touts and constant hassling, which seems to be much more prevalent in all these more touristy places. That said, these places are wonderful and atmospheric and well worth a visit. I shall be back in Delhi on Saturday night, and then taking the train to Kalka and then Shimla the next day, a good 10 hour journey. After that, I will travel for 2 weeks around Himachal Pradesh, before returning to Delhi to catch my flight back to Singapore.

Clinic and around

Some snaps from around the clinic- First one is just outside Nadim's house.

Inside his house. We sat around and chilled in his house all afternoon as the roads leading home were apparently all jammed up by protesters- According to Nadim, a rich Hindu girl and poor Muslim guy got married in 2007 after meeting in college, which didn't suit her father, who then shot the husband 3 days after the wedding. The father got off scot-free as he was influential and rich, and hence the protests today.

That's Ranessa, a nurse from Canada, sorting out a dressing.

More photos from the clinic

Jon Reisman's Blog

Jon's one of my neighbours on my floor, a medical student from New Jersey, who's working with Calcutta Rescue, another NGO that's been in Calcutta for 30 years. He's written some insightful commentary about street medicine, India and travelling here.

More Topsia Portraits

Indian Museum, Kolkata

The Indian Museum in Kolkata houses an eclectic collection of bone fragments, rocks, stuffed animals, religious statues and a small room of tiny paintings. Some of the exhibits were mind numbingly boring, for example, the room with thousands and thousands of little rocks, not very well labelled, whilst others, such as the room of preserved insects, were slightly more interesting.

Tinea Corporis aka Ringworm

Ps. That's my thigh.

Rickshaw Wallahs

Kolkata, from what I've read, is the only city in India to still have hand-pulled rickshaws.

Roadside stalls at night

A couple of photos from the market and road side stalls north of New Market.

Punters at work

Photo by Elena



Photo by Elena

New Market Traders

Old Man

Varanasi Again

Varanasi

Varanasi. Initial Snaps

I'm back in Kolkata now, took about 4 gb worth of shots which I'm still sorting through, but here are some quick ones:



(above and below) That's the opposite side of the Ganges. The actual bank of the river is about 200 metres away- the river only reaches it's maximum width during the monsoon months.



That's a typical shot of Varanasi that you can find in any guide book.



And again.



And again. I'll post more interesting ones later.