Visit Agra

Awe-struck in India: Bustling streets and dazzling shrines
AGRA, India - On a cool, dusty night, guards herded our small group of tourists through gates leading to the Taj Mahal. Bright lights glared on us as we walked, and my heart sank. My hopes for a black night with only the full moon glowing on the monument’s perfectly symmetrical globes was dashed.

We made our way to a stone platform overlooking the grounds and peered out across the gardens toward the great building.

Then, the guards killed the lights.

Emerging like a ghost from a pinkish haze, the pearly shrine looked feminine and stately, like a queen on a throne. Moonlight glazed its domes.

In the distance, city lights glowed red and the noise of thumping modern music drifted up. But inside the gates, the hallowed Taj Mahal was unperturbed and otherworldly, bathed in silence.

Our group of 15 was awed. No one wanted to leave. We felt lucky.

And I, who hadn’t included the Taj Mahal on my bucket list, was thrilled.

India is bewildering, maddening and stunning.

The sun seldom breaks through the smoky haze. Traffic is chaotic and stops for no one.

Drivers of auto rickshaws, tiny three-wheeled taxis that look like go-carts, chased me down trying to get my business. When I did hire one for sightseeing, he only wanted to take me shopping. I had to argue every time I stepped outside my hotel gates.

"India is kicking my butt," I said to my husband, who was attending a conference while I saw Delhi’s sights on my own.

But after adjusting to its raucous rhythm, India was rewarding.

From the enormous red Agra Fort, almost more magnificent than the Taj Mahal, to the lavish gold-embroidered saris of women on their way to a Delhi wedding, the sights were beautiful.

I saw richly decorated tombs, palaces, mosques and temples, where most tourists were Indians, clearly proud of their heritage. Inside, even at the busy Taj Mahal, crowds were orderly, lines moved quickly, people were friendly and the centuries-old buildings were spotless.

Sikhs in turbans, Muslims in hijabs and Hindus in saris mingled everywhere.

In Delhi, television and newspapers were sophisticated, bars and restaurants hip. The city’s newly expanded subway gleamed.
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Sanjaya Baru: Manmohan Singh bats again

Six years ago, in early March 2005, Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf let it be known to the media in Islamabad that he wished to travel to India to watch one of the India-Pakistan cricket matches that spring. New Delhi was stumped into silence for several days. The instinctual response of many was to view this as a typical Musharraf googly.

India’s ministry of external affairs was still licking its wounds from the Agra summit fiasco. The budget session of Parliament was still in progress, and was being repeatedly disrupted by a contentious opposition. The United Progressive Alliance government was not being allowed to settle down, still being treated as a usurper by a sulking Bharatiya Janata Party.

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In the prime minister’s office, a new national security advisor was just settling down into his job, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s own mind was on a major initiative he was pursuing with US President George Bush.
Clearly, Mr Musharraf was not coming just to watch a cricket match. He wanted to come for a summit meeting. Why create further complications with a Musharraf visit? The ghost of Agra haunted the minds of every Pakistan watcher and few were willing to push the PM into troubled waters. A risk averse system suggested ignoring Mr Musharraf’s remarks.

As the PM’s media advisor my worry was the headlines we would get around the world: “Musharraf wants to go to India to watch a cricket match, India says no!”

If the Agra summit’s media circus and fiasco was what was worrying the foreign ministry, then one should be able to deal with that and work out a strategy. A media plan was suggested to the PM and he felt reassured. He decided that he must invite Mr Musharraf.

The naysayers were still urging caution, and seeking time to work on logistics. One suggestion was that Mr Musharraf be invited to the match at Kochi, rather than Delhi. It was pointed out that even if the match was in Port Blair the international and national media would land up there.

Finally, after waiting for several days for his officials to come up with a practical response to Mr Musharraf’s spin, the PM chose to bat for himself. At the end of his long speech in Parliament, replying to the debate on the motion of thanks on the President’s address to parliament, Dr Singh said: “Mr Speaker Sir, there is one matter that I do wish to refer to and that is our relations with Pakistan… After my meeting with General Musharraf on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, all items of composite dialogue are under discussion. We are moving forward and I must say that nothing brings the people of our sub-continent more together than our love for cricket and Bollywood cinema. I am equally conscious of the fact today that even as I speak in this House, I am competing for the nation’s attention with young men like (Virendar) Sehwag and (Asim) Kamal. Perhaps that is how it should be. Indeed, how nice it would be if we conduct our affairs in this august House with the same spirit of sportsmanship that our cricketers exhibit on the playing fields of the sub-continent.”

“Sir, when our citizens went to Pakistan for the last series, they returned with tales of bonhomie and warm hospitality. I am delighted to say that our people have returned this hospitality to the thousands of visitors from Pakistan. Relations between nations are after all nothing more than relations between their people. I am sure that time will work to heal our wounds and create an environment of shared prosperity and peace in this sub-continent…”

“Sir, I am happy to inform the honourable members of the House that I have decided to invite President Musharraf to come to India to watch the cricket match between our two teams. It is my earnest desire that the people in our neighbouring countries and their leaders should feel free to visit us whenever they wish to do so. Be it to watch a cricket match; be it to do some shopping; or be it to meet friends and families — India is proud to be an open society and an open economy. I do hope that President Musharraf and his family will enjoy their visit to our country.”

The House cheered him. Officials who heard him speak, finally drafted an invitation letter. Mr Musharraf came, watched the match Pakistan won at Ferozeshah Kotla grounds, was charmed by his favourite Bollywood star Rani Mukherjee and held a purposeful meeting that opened a new chapter in the bilateral relationship.

Much has happened since in both countries. The past two years have seen ups and downs and moments of frustration as well as shared optimism, as in Thimpu last April when the two prime ministers met on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit.

Dr Singh has once again stepped forward to bat and has invited President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Reza Gilani to join him at Mohali for the India-Pakistan semi-finals in the World Cup series. The initiative has been widely welcomed. This need not be a ‘summit’ masquerading as a visit.

To quote Dr Singh, India’s neighbours and their leaders “should feel free to visit whenever they wish to do so. Be it to watch a cricket match; be it to do some shopping; or be it to meet friends and families...”

Each time they meet there need be no joint statement, no one-upmanship, no point scoring. Meeting and talking, regularly, even about serious differences, is good in itself. Hopefully, this will be followed by a visit to Pakistan by Dr Singh. After seven years in office, it is time he visited his friends in the village of his birth.

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BHEL wins order for Multi-Terminal System
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has won a breakthrough order from Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. for ± 800 kV 6,000 MW HVDC Multi-Terminal System Package associated with the NE/ER-N/WR Interconnector-1 project, in consortium with ABB, Sweden.
This will be world’s first ± 800 kV, 6,000 MW Ultra High Voltage Multi-terminal DC transmission link. The link comprises three converter terminals and a power transmission system with a built in capacity of up to 8,000 MW which is the largest HVDC transmission system ever built. The use of Ultra High Voltage (± 800 kV) minimises transmission losses. In financial terms, this is the largest order finalized in T&D sector anywhere in the world.
The ± 800 kV North-East Agra UHVDC link will have a capacity to transmit up to 6,000 MW of clean hydroelectric power from the North-East Region of the country to Agra across a distance of 1,728 kilometers. This transmission super highway will to a large extent ease the ever increasing power shortages in northern India.
The order value for BHEL is Rs 15,900 million. This is the largest order for BHEL in T&D sector. BHEL had taken certain strategic steps a few years back to gear itself up to meet the challenges being thrown open in the Indian power sector and has already enhanced its annual transformer manufacturing capacity to 45,000 MVA to remain the biggest manufacturer of transformers in the country. The capacity addition undertaken by BHEL will also address requirement of converter transformers for this project.
BHEL together with its partner ABB, Sweden, will execute the project involving system engineering, design, supply and installation of three HVDC converter stations. The first stage of the system is scheduled to be operational in 2014 and the second stage in 2015.
BHEL together with ABB had introduced HVDC technology in the country with ± 500 kV HVDC transmission system between Rihand and Dadri in 1991. Besides the ± 800 kV North-East Agra UHVDC link, BHEL has been instrumental in 3 out of 4 HVDC long distance projects undertaken by state/ central utilities so far.
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10 days in India barely scratches the surface of the stunning country
AGRA, India — On a cool, dusty night, guards herded our small group of tourists through gates leading to the Taj Mahal. Bright lights glared on us as we walked, and my heart sank. My hopes for a black night with only the full moon glowing on the monument's perfectly symmetrical globes was dashed.

We made our way to a stone platform overlooking the grounds and peered out across the gardens toward the great building.

Then, the guards killed the lights.

Emerging like a ghost from a pinkish haze, the pearly shrine looked feminine and stately, like a queen on a throne. Moonlight glazed its domes.

In the distance, city lights glowed red and the noise of thumping modern music drifted up. But inside the gates, the hallowed Taj Mahal was unperturbed and otherworldly, bathed in silence.

Our group of 15 was awed. No one wanted to leave. We felt lucky.

And I, who hadn't included the Taj Mahal on my bucket list, was thrilled.

India is bewildering, maddening and stunning.

The sun seldom breaks through the smoky haze. Traffic is chaotic and stops for no one.

Drivers of auto rickshaws, tiny three-wheeled taxis that look like go-carts, chased me down trying to get my business. When I did hire one for sightseeing, he only wanted to take me shopping. I had to argue every time I stepped outside my hotel gates.

"India is kicking my butt," I said to my husband, who was attending a conference while I saw Delhi's sights on my own.

But after adjusting to its raucous rhythm, India was rewarding.

From the enormous red Agra Fort, almost more magnificent than the Taj Mahal, to the lavish gold-embroidered saris of women on their way to a Delhi wedding, the sights were beautiful.

I saw richly decorated tombs, palaces, mosques and temples, where most tourists were Indians, clearly proud of their heritage. Inside, even at the busy Taj Mahal, crowds were orderly, lines moved quickly, people were friendly and the centuries-old buildings were spotless.

Sikhs in turbans, Muslims in hijabs and Hindus in saris mingled everywhere.

In Delhi, television and newspapers were sophisticated, bars and restaurants hip. The city's newly expanded subway gleamed.

I ate heavenly chicken tikka makhni with a smoky tomato flavor, spicy Goan fish curry, morels stuffed with cashews. I drank fragrant Assam and Darjeeling tea with milk.

In New Delhi, the capital of India, which lies within the metropolis and was built in the early 1900 s by the British, I admired manicured gardens filled with palm trees, tropical flowers and neat hedges.

And I met people like bus guide Mervyn Thomas, a young Christian from the country's northeast, who walked with me to a Sikh temple I wanted to photograph just so he could help me cross the busy streets. He asked for nothing in return but my email address.