On a trip to India, Ida, my change partner and I thought it would be a good idea to take a couple of day’s vacation to visit the Taj Mahal. After all, who knew when we would be back in that part of the world?
Our kind Cadbury hosts made arrangements for us to travel to Agra by way of New Delhi. It turned out that we arrived in Agra on one of the hottest days of the year. We also picked the hottest time of the day to go site seeing (tourists). When we arrived at 12 noon the thermometer hit 44 degrees Celsius.
For some reason our guide asked us to wait outside the Taj and he said he would be back in a half-hour. Caught off guard we said agreed. As the minutes went by we started to melt.
Also, we noticed that a group of men were standing behind us making goofy gestures as their friend took pictures. We were the attraction. No, Ida was the attraction who was one of only two western women who had come to see the Taj Mahal during the hottest days of the year.
It was not a comfortable position to be in so we headed off to find our guide. Finally, we found him and asked him to take us somewhere to cool off. When we entered the local Sheraton I couldn’t believe it. I said, “Ida, you are as pink as a lobster.” She replied, “You are pink as a lobster.” Here we were, two pink lobsters visiting one of the wonders of the world. You always have to be aware of your surroundings.
