Delhi

Deli: Humayun's Tomb - the first Taj Mahal?

After an hour in Delhi Railway Station, filling in forms, watching a happy Dutch couple walz around the reservation lounge and queing to be told "full", we headed off to Humayun's (not to be confused, as I did, with the monkey god, Hanuman) Tomb.

A camera was thrust towards me as we entered the garden and I thought it was for me to take a group family picture of some Indian tourists - that's what you do, don't you - but, we were alI ushered into shot, cosying up with a multi-generational Indian family. That was the first of many such encounters as we ambled around the tomb gardens. Those images are probably heading towards Indian facebook pages over the next few days. Did they think we were Brad and Angelina with half their tribe? I thought we were here to take pictures of the authentic locals? Earily, it did feel like an Indian version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's Vulgaria without the child catcher - and Benny Hill. Have they never seen children - obviously not our grubby little ones!

Lime green parrots and swarms of giant dragonflies were hanging out in the gardens around the tomb,which does look like a less showy version of the Taj. Humayun's son in law, who built the Taj Mahal took the idea from here, expanded it, added lashings of marble and then stuck his father in law in a prison. We'll be going to the Taj Mahal later in the month, so I can get a little bit more flesh on the story by then. I'll be gutted if I don't get a picture of me on Princess Diana's bench to put on my facebook profile. Beren and Magi keep taking these Troll pictures of me on their nintendo DS. That is, they put an image of a jet-lagged me, through a "Troll" ap. At least we're covering the creative side of the curriculum this early into the trip. Sorted.