Documentary Scholarship Trip

As the winner of this years World Nomads/National Geographic documentary scholarship I headed to India on a World Expedition Tour. A great chance to see some sights and to make a film during the community development phase of the trip with the help of filmmaking mentor Trent O’Donnell. Arrived yesterday morning into the heat and madness that is Delhi. At the airport I saw something that always h makes me smile – my name on a sign. Whisked to the Connaught Hotel near Connaught Circle in New Delhi, I took the option to relax for the day before heading out for dinner with Peter, Anne and Walter – fellow travellers on the World Expeditions Jamba School Project Trip we were about to undertake. I’ve been to Delhi a few times before and have always admired the dedication and enthusiasm of Connaught Circle salesmen and women, particularly those selling miniature chess sets. Phew! This morning we met the rest of the group and our tour leader Angchuk and after a quick briefing we were on the bus to Agra. Home of the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and a million hawkers selling everything from puppets to bangles to postcards, postcards, postcards. As we drive through the streets of New Delhi Angchuk mentioned that the Commonwealth Games are to be held here in 2010. There’s a new metro loads of construction and I saw on the TV that the govt is trailing a new system to rate the cleanliness of individual street food vendors. Taming Delhi, what a job. So we arrived in Agra and went straight to the Agra Fort for a bit of sightseeing action. Our guide took us through he whole sordid history of the place, opium, harems, eunuchs.... but the highlight was the view over the river of the Taj Mahal. The view that the Taj’s builder saw everyday when he was imprisoned in the Agra Fort by his evil? Son Aurangzeb. Called the greatest monument ever built for love, the Taj was the idea of this guy called Shah Jehan who was madly in love with one of his wives called Mumtaz Mahal. In short, she died; he was upset and built the Taj as a mausoleum and monument for her. We head back to the Holiday Inn, via a marble emporium, and have an early night in anticipation of seeing the Taj Mahal at sunrise tomorrow