Humayun's Tomb- Our waking hours aren't so convenient for connecting with the rest of the world so we actually do a great portion of emailing and phone calls first thing in the day and again in the evening. I am learning that if I want some time with Bert then late afternoon is a good bet. On Wednesday we headed to Humayun's Tomb (which we could actually see from our temporary hotel room) while Felix headed in the opposite direction to coach Little League within the American Embassy complex.

The ten minute ride to the tomb complex was about 10 minutes and cost us about 50 rupees/bucks. Entrance to the tomb's 20 acre garden cost us, as foreigners, 250 ruppes each! It isn't that the cost is so outrageous when translated into dollars (about $6), but the comparative cost of sightseeing to transportation stuns me.

Humayun's tomb is the first of the Mughal garden tomb's and it's clear that the Taj Mahal is modeled on this earlier tomb. It was finished 1573 and even then they brought in all the laborers to live in a small village in the gardens during the construction and more amazingly, the deceased emperor's chief widow lived in the village supervising the building until complete. Wouldn't it be impressive if the bureaucrats who launch enormous building schemes in our cities got to live on the building site until the work was complete. :) I'd quite like to send some VDOT official to camp on the median of 495 for a few months!

We reflected that although the building is spectacular, and the gardens beautifully peaceful, it seems such a waste. If you want to honor someone why not create something that generates life or capital in some way, make it a living legacy. Hope our children get the memo: scratch the sandstone inlaid with black and white marble and replace with school or something creative!