February 2012
by Carolyn - 21:46 on 29 February 2012
On February 14th we left Calcutta, after a hectic final few days of families visits... We managed to see all of the immediate family, some of them several times, and some close friends, and were very sad to leave again.
However Rajasthan called, and we spent 5 days based in a nice little hotel, Suryaa Villas, in Jaipur, visiting beautiful palaces, fortresses and lakes and spending a lovely day with the very welcoming local Bahá'ís. Then we took a very comfortable train journey to New Delhi, with spacious reclining seats and regular refreshments delivered, arriving very late to a good hotel in a 'bad' area near the Station, according to our worried relatives....
The next morning we visited the Bahá'í House of Worship and our niece, Reshmi, and her son collected us from the gates and took us home for lunch with her mother and husband Swapan, and then to a Polo match in South Delhi, which was a new experience for us... We sat with Sir Mark Tulley & his party, and later rubbed shoulders with princesses and politicians at a soirée where we were introduced around :)
We left our suitcases at the hotel, and went off to Agra for two nights, travelling with a nice French-Canadien couple, and stayed at the friendly Taj Plaza Hotel which had a spectacular view of the Taj from the rooftop Restaurant. We first visited the Red Fort and then watched the sun set over the Taj from across the river, and in the morning returned for a leisurely visit to the magnificent Taj Mahal, which we'd last visited in 1986 after the Lotus Temple dedication. Bibhas also visited Akbar's tomb and Fatehpur Sikri whilst Carolyn resolutely stayed at the hotel soaking up the sun and uploading photos...
The journey back to Delhi on board the Punjab Mail train was not the best experience, but we had a luxury suite & power shower waiting at the Godwin de Luxe, near the Station, so we soon recovered. The next day was leisurely, visiting Mahatma Gandhi's Memorial Gardens, then visiting the National Bahá'í Centre and gardens, and finally being picked up by Reshmi and her driver and taken to Lodi Gardens, where old buildings pre-dating the Moghuls have been reclaimed and a lovely park created. Then we met up with her mother and son at the International Club, joined by another nephew, Piku, another busy doctor (we counted 7 in the family)we'd been waiting to meet up with, for High Tea. It was Piku's Dad Deepak who took us to one of Mother Teresa's hospitals in Calcutta.
By this time there was some concern about our flights home as Kingfisher Airlines were in trouble, so we moved from our luxury downtown hotel to a Bengali Guest House near to the Airport, Bahá'í Temple and Delhi family. After we'd moved we took a rickshaw to the Temple, and spent a couple of hours there, then Piku came on his motor-bike to check out the guest house, followed by Reshmi , so we decided to take our Delhi family to Mainland China for a last meal, which was very enjoyable. Then we got a message from Zafer, a Bahá'í friend from Cyprus who we'd also been waiting to catch up with, that there were to be prayers at the Temple before it opened to the public next morning so we left our packing and went off again, and were rewarded by being able to read prayers aloud, in Bengali and English, whilst Zafer chanted in Turkish, accompanied by bird-song - another one of those special moments in time....
Afterwards we were all invited to breakfast in the grounds of the Temple with the local Bahá'ís as it was Ayyam-i-Há, one of the special days before the Bahá'í Fast...
Piku arrived as soon as we got back to Atithi Guest House, and he and Bibhas had elevenses, followed by another visit from Reshmi and her driver, and then a very uneventful and comfortable journey home to Gatwick. Robindra picked us up from Woking air terminal and Chandra also came home for a few days to check us out!
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