Penguin Travels: 7 India

Day 8 – Agra

Once again, the hotel was quite upmarket and included a beauty salon downstairs. I was sharing with Jill. She went down for breakfast when we arrived, so I was able to get a shower. Instead of going for breakfast in the hotel, I decided to go to Costa Coffee which was next door. As I walked in, the waitress said: “Welcome to Costas”, which was a nice touch. I had iced coffee and a chocolate chip muffin. Another nice touch was that they warmed up the muffin before bringing it over. Yummy!

Instead of going straight back to the hotel, I wondered down the road for a bit. I spotted some parrots on the Vodafone mast and then closer to home in the tree above the kiosk used by the hotel security guards.

I decided to visit the centre downstairs to see if I could have a massage to help my swollen ankles and aching toe, which were still causing a lot of trouble, even though I had not let them stop me doing anything. I was put in the care of a young girl who was really sweet. It really hurt when she tried to loosen my big toe, but it must have helped because it did start to get better after that. She was obviously concerned because she brought in the girl who first met me to talk through the mess that was my feet. I was told to leave the oils on for 30 minutes, so I was the last person downstairs for our next adventure.

Agra Fort - The Most

First Entrance

There were a group of tuk-tuk drivers outside the hotel and we bundled in two by two. First stop was the fort, a huge building of which 2/3 is still used by the military and so off limits to tourists. Despite that, there was still plenty to see and the palace seemed to go on and on, from one courtyard to the next.

Second Entrance

Third Entrance

The fort is made of red sandstone and is pink. It has a moat which used to be filled by the adjacent River Yamuna but is now mostly empty. The entrance to the fort made it difficult for hostile forces to enter. There are three gates, built at different angles, making it easy for defenders to pick off the assailants. As we walked up the long slope to the final gate, we saw lots of parrots. They nest in holes in the walls of the fort. Apparently the slope was built at an angle negotiable by elephants.

Jahangiri Mahal

Having got through all the defences and survived intact, we arrived at the courtyard in front of the Jahangiri Mahal. This was built by Akbar in the 16th century and was the women’s quarters. We went inside and our guide led us through a sequence of rooms and inner courtyards. It sort of reminded me of the Alhambra, which I guess was the common Moslem architecture, though this had a definite Indian or Hindu twist. The rooms and buildings were ornately decorated, with the sandstone being carved into intricate brackets, doorways and ceilings. The marble buildings had walls inlaid with flowers made of semi-precious stones and other designs. These latter were built under Shah Jahan, who knocked down some of the earlier red sandstone buildings to make way for his new work.

High Ornate Ceiling

Marble Decoration

More Marble Decoration

Taj in the Morning Mist

When we reached one of the Golden Pavillions, linked to the Shah’s daughters, we had our first glimpse of the Taj Mahal, rising from the mist further along the river. I was so looking forward to our visit there. From a distance, it was easy to see the efforts which had been made to conserve the Taj by removing all industry from the surrounding area to protect it from pollution.

A Royal Shower

Then we entered the Khas Mahal, with its cool high ceilings and then headed into the Mussaman Burj, the tower in which Shah Jehan was imprisoned by his son Aurungzeb. It was a nice prison as prisons go, because Shah Jehan apparently built it as quarters for his wife. It was made of white marble with beautiful floral decoration and it had lovely views of the river and the Taj Mahal, so he could see his wife’s tomb from his prison.

We were shown the shower, which was an alcove in the wall, with a hole above. The person having the shower leant against the wall and a servant poured water on them from the room above. The water was collected in a basin in the floor.

Nagina Masjid from Diwan-i-Am Courtyard

Further on, we passed the Nagina Masjid, the private mosque used by Shah Jehan during his imprisonment. Soon after, our attention was diverted by looking out at another courtyard. I saw a parrot perched on a red sandstone projection and a family of monkeys was sitting out on the grass. When we got down to the courtyard, the monkeys had mostly retreated to the shade of the pillared terrace.

Arches of the Diwan-i-Am

We finally left the buildings through the Diwan-i-Am and were left to sit in the gardens outside or explore further. I decided to rest my ankles and caught up with my journal in the shade of one of the trees.

Eventually Rafeeq appeared and he led us out of the fort. Judith remembered something about a nearby market and suggested we went to see it. She said it had Indian crafts, saris and spices and would be interesting. Rafeeq gave us the choice: market or lunch. I was all for lunch but the market won the day. So we set off in our tuk tuks and were deposited at the end of a shopping street. We soon realised that this was not a market and we were directed round a corner. This was still ordinary shops, so we went back to the fort and beyond until we reached a busy shopping area with vehicles coming in all directions and much seedier shops than the previous stop. Eventually we reached a mosque and found a traffic free street which looked more like a market. Although interesting, I was not tempted to buy anything as it was a real market as opposed to a tourist market. We set off to look round the stalls and eventually Bob and Mike appeared. Their tuk tuk driver had got lost in the mad dash around Agra. We did a circuit and waited for our tuk tuks to reappear. Mark said that he was losing his … and I felt the same. The highlight of our long wait was when I looked up and noticed a goat on the roof of one of the shops across the road. I hope he had no urge to jump.

The girls turned up and some of them had been spending. Then we spotted Khan, our guide, who led us on a long nerve-wracking walk, dodging the traffic and trying to find our tuk tuks. I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my left leg and then went over on my ankle, so I was not happy at all.

At last we found the tuk tuks and went to a restaurant specialising in Southern Indian cuisine. I had a thali as did Ken and Mark. It was nice, but nothing special.

In addition to risking all when walking around town, the tuk tuk rides were quite hair-raising too. The most exciting manoeuvre is the Agra Right Turn which has the following steps:

1. Move into the right hand lane, driving into the on-coming traffic

2. Aim for the nearest (right hand) corner at the junction

3. Dodge any on-coming or left turning traffic

4. When in the junction, head towards the left lane weaving in and out of the other vehicles

5. Sound horn throughout the procedure.

Soon after we got back to the hotel, it was time for the sunset visit to the Taj Mahal. We set off in tuk tuks to get the tickets, but then had to get onto the official bus to take us to the entrance. There were two queues – boys and girls. The boys queue moved much more quickly than ours, but we got to the gate eventually. We passed through and were frisked by female security officers of some sort.

Taj from the Top Steps

Taj before Sunset

The whole site was very crowded. We met up with the boys and then headed to the imposing entrance building where people tried to get photos of the Taj with very little success, because other people got in the way. We moved through and rested by the wall at the top of the gardens and started to take photos. Apparently the Taj changes colour in the sunset, but it seemed to be the same colour throughout. I kept taking shots in the hope that the final photos would show this effect, but to no avail. I also tried to take photos of birds flying past the dome of the Taj. There were frequent screeches of parrots flying above, heading for their roosts, but they always flew too fast.

Ladies sitting on the grass

We moved on from the top step and stopped by a lawn half-way down. Many people on the first floor of the Taj were queuing to see the tombs. Others had turned it into a party and a group of women in brightly coloured saris were sitting on the lawn in front of us, blithely ignoring the “keep off the grass” sign until someone eventually made them move. I spotted two hoopoes picking insects off the lawn, but they flew off when disturbed.

We continued to take photos, hoping that the Taj would change colour. The big problem with our position was that the Taj only had three minarets as one was hidden, so even if we had managed to capture a beautiful sequence of colour, the photos would have been less than perfect. The Taj did change colour eventually – to a dark grey as the light disappeared. I don’t think that was the intended effect.

We walked slowly to the entrance and were amongst the last people to leave. Then it was back to the hotel. Most people decided to miss out on the evening meal, but Mark, Bob, Mike and I went with Rafeeq to the imaginatively named “Taj Mahal” restaurant, again by tuk tuk. Mike had a mutton Kashmiri and Mark, Bob and I had a Dum Aloo Kashmiri, which proved to be one of the tastiest meals of the trip with just the right amount of spice.

Animal Corner