Day 8 - The Taj Mahal experience

After the wedding our little group separated for the second week. Three couples went to GOA to the summer residence of the Bantwal family, most of the others flew back home and I made my way to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Preeti helped setting up my trip via the “Odyssey Tours & Travel” agency. They booked me two packages, a two day trip to Agra returning in Pune and a 3 day package from Pune to Aurangabad ending in Mumbai so I could fly home from there.

I woke up on time and made my way to the living room just in time for my scheduled 4:30 AM pick up. My flight was scheduled for 6:15 in the morning. I packed my smaller rucksack with little stuff for two days (mainly my camera) and waited in the living room for the driver to call me. There was no call as agreed. So I called the driver. The phone rang and then there were sounds of a phone falling and hitting ground. Emptiness. I called again 5 minutes later – this time the phone was answered and then the person on the other end hung up. I started to get nervous – the two days cost me about 250 Euros with the flight and the hotel and I had little hope to get any money back if I missed my flight. So I called again. The phone was switched off!!! I thought a little about my alternatives and ran out the door towards the city. As Pune started to wake up, I ran down to the big crossing and jumped at the first rickshaw I saw. “Can you take me to the airport please?” were the first words leaving my mouth on this chilly morning in Pune (the cursing in the living room didn’t count as the words didn’t actually leave my mouth …)

Now if there is one thing the rickshaw drivers can do, is ripping off tourists. And honestly I can’t blame the guy – I mean if you saw a hysterical tourist with a big backpack at 5 in the morning asking you to take him to the airport – would you take him there for the normal fare? I don’t think so. So he said, yes, sure. That will be 500 Rupees (about €10). I will never forget the road to the airport as I sat in the back of the rickshaw freezing in my Bermuda shorts and flip-flops. First I thought, thank god I will make my flight, but then the rickshaw driver started to follow signs opposite the ones pointing to the airport. I started mentally to prepare defending my life as he would stop at a dead-end asking for my earthy possessions when he suddenly stopped and asked some people on the side of the road - I couldn’t fully understand what he was talking about. Then he turned back and asked some more people. That is when I realized, he had no idea where the airport was!!! Oh, the luxury of Schwalbach, where you tell the Taxi to go to Procter & Gamble and they know where to go! Well, anyway – in the end we arrived at the airport just on time, I paid him the 500 Rupees and ran into the terminal.

Fyling King Fisher is the coolest thing on the world. They are a supposedly cheap airline – a bit similar to the Virgin Experience I assume as I never flew Virgin – you really feel like a King. They give you presents, you get a kind of console to play with, their staff is very nice too. It was fantastic to fly with them – especially after the Al Italia misery a week earlier. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy so I did not see anything interesting on the flight – maybe I was sleeping, I actually don’t remember.

We arrived on time in Delhi where I got picked up by my driver at the airport who would bring me to Agra. He was very nice and he had the coolest car in the world. Very comfy – Indias own Ambassador!

The trip from Delhi to Agra (200 kms) took in total around five and a half hours, the first two leaving Delhi. It was an experience on its own. Basically you could see any means of transport from bicycles to Jeeps, cows, people walking, buses, rickshaws turned over in an accident, self-made wooden cars held together only by dirt and magic. All in all it was a pretty adventurous drive with only one stop on the way, where my driver would drink a coffee and I was supposedly buy some stuff from a very cheap touristy place. Unfortunately for them I was prepared for this and didn’t buy anything. We actually almost had a frontal accident with a bus as my driver kind of didn’t really pay attention when overtaking a car.

We arrived in Agra shortly after one in the afternoon. I checked in at the hotel and arranged for my driver to pick me up an hour later. I showered, changed into some fresh clothes and we were on our way to the Taj Mahal!

I am not going to tell you the story of the Taj Mahal, because I cannot tell it as well as on Wikipedia – but the short version would be something like this: Akbar built it to commemorate his third wife when she died, as he loved symmetry, he built the whole thing absolutely symmetrical. There were even two Moshees – one of them of course a mock one as they all have to face east. Again, check Wikipedia for the full story.

Having experienced India for over a week I should have been prepared for what was to come, but Preeti, Paritosh and Sujal were such nice guides, that the whole thing only hit me here. I was a tourist on my own and somehow I got the feeling that there was a big sign over my head (slightly on the left, yellow with a thick black line at the edge with big flashlights in form of a big arrow pointing down towards me) that said “Tourist = Idiot = please milk me = I have money”.

So my driver supposedly told me that the Taj is actually not in a good shape. All the dirt and pollution in the area is starting to affect it so they introduced a new rule, that no cars shall get close enough to it. So we will have to take the last couple of hundred meters by rickshaw (not the motored one). According to him this was an absolute necessity, not possible to walk as it is too far. Ok, so we get out of the car, my guide comes over, introduces himself and brings me to the rickshaws. One of the rickshaw guys comes over and they do the secret handshake. He takes 150 Rupees off me and off we go. I am thinking – he will carry the two of us for such a long ride, this will be interesting. Then the road is over after 150 meters. 150 meters for 150 Rupees!!! You can do the math – but my best guess would be that this was the most expensive part of my travels. So as you can imagine the trust level climbed to a record high between my guide and myself at this point …

Anyway – entry to the Taj was 750 Rupees including a bottle of water – my guide started telling me the story of the Taj and we entered. He told me I would need an hour and then we should meet at the entrance but I told him that there is no way I will be out of this place in an hour so I told him to meet me three hours later. So I went inside the place.

It was truly a sight. I can honestly say that you feel the history of that place. It has an extremely large garden and the buildings are really all symmetrical. You see people from everywhere on earth – Indians, non-Indians, families, lonely tourists like myself, etc. The stupid thing was, that after a fantastic week with friends this was the first time that I was really on my own and so I got into a kind of melancholic mood. The Taj Mahal is one of those places that you need to share with someone, don’t visit it on your own if you can!

This was my very first photo of the place – really nothing compared to the rest, but at the time I felt I had to keep pushing the bottoms like crazy.

This is the main entrance into the gardens. You can see the white marble building in the centre already.

One more picture before entering

Here we are – POSTCARD ALARM!!!

But wait – can it be that the sign over my head is gone? I don’t think so – and so almost immediately after burning away 10 shots on my digital card I am being approached by a professional photographer (secret handshake and all) who offers to take 20 photos of me for a measly 1400 rupees. Development included! I tell him that makes no sense – he should use my camera instead as it is digital and that I will give him 200 – he says, not to worry about the price. He is smiling, I trust him. I give him my camera and here we go ...

Looking back I can’t believe that I did that – but it sure was fun. He directed me to go to all the places, do this, do that, lay down, stand up, smile. I felt like some supermodel – too bad I am not one. Here is my favourite photo – I guess I could have a lot of success with this one on an Indian matchmaking website. I would call it “me and my garden”. Shame on me!!!

So after my 15 photos of fame I wanted my camera back. Of course he would not give it back to me without me paying 1400 rupees!!! I mean he had no costs whatsoever; he used my camera, my SD card, no development needed, and so on, so why should I pay him so much money for 15 minutes of work? Well, because he would smash my camera if I didn’t. After a short heated discussion and an exchange of 700 rupees I got my camera back and was still in a kind of good mood when I made my way towards to the center of the garden.

I spent the next two hours walking around, inside the gardens and looking at the buildings including the main tomb of course. The Taj Mahal is actually situated next to a river – it must be quite a sight from the other side, wich I didn’t go to this time (mental note – do it next time!!!). Also next time I would like to come here with someone and possibly experience it at a full moon during the night. It must be quite a sight they say.

Click the picture above to see all my photos of the Taj Mahal.

Three hours later I met my guide, we WALKED back – passing the rickshaw drivers and I could see a little anger in the eye of my guide. I guess the arrow over my head was fading away…

After the Taj Mahal we went to an internet place – of course not the one I chose from the Lonely Planet of course as my driver couldn’t find it, but – surprise!!! – He knew a much better one where he knew the owner. It was not the cheapest internet station in India but it was the first time I had access to my email and so I was actually pretty happy about it. I checked Slashdot and the usual gossip websites and I went back to the hotel. I slept like a baby.

Here are all the photos of this day.