India Part III: Agra

And so we boarded another overnight train, this time in first class. It was very classy- only four people to a berth, more comfy beds and we could lock our door. Kristen fell asleep immediately and didn’t even notice when our berth companions got off at Jaipur. It was obvious when the train reached the outskirts of Agra. Agra is famous for being a dirty city, even among Indian cities and it did not disappoint. The tracks were lined with trash and neighborhood dumps. We became slightly less sure of where we were after we had to wait for an hour to actually arrive at the station for reasons unknown. Since we were in first class, we had a ‘call’ button. So, we pressed it to see what would happen and if we could find out what was happening. Someone came after half an hour and then train had already started moving into the station. Better late than never.

We were greeted as we exited our train car by our driver who escorted us to our hotel. We were grateful for him because the platform was full of student groups who had come to see what we had come to see- the Taj Mahal. Our drive to the hotel showed us a much cleaner side of the city. We later learned that it had been cleaned up because the Commonwealth Game participants were being brought to see the Taj and Obama was expected soon. He had been invited to visit the Taj on his state visit to India, but rumor had it that the Secret Service didn’t think it was safe enough. They wanted to spiff up their image. Besides cleaning up the place a bit, they also had a tourism festival, which we accidentally went to after being advised by our hotel owner that there was some live music we could see. Our driver informed us on the way that “This show is not a success. It is a flop.” With that resounding endorsement, we decided we’d go anyway since we were already mostly there and see how it went. Being obviously tourists, we were quickly whisked to the VIP section where we sat on couches in the front row and were given bottles of water. As we watched the different cultural dances being performed, the press would take our pictures and we would try to look sufficiently in awe of what we were seeing.



For the grand finale, we were hauled up on stage to dance with Lord Krishna as marigold petals were flung into the air. If we were not sufficiently engaged in the dancing, there was someone who would grab us and move us to the front to dance with one deity or another. Again, we did our best to look very happy with what we were doing. Afterwards, we did our best to shake the petals out of our hair and clothes and laughed at what most likely resulted in more videos of us on YouTube under the heading “Tourists dancing badly”.

Having been embarrassed sufficiently, the next morning we woke up early to reward ourselves with a trip to the Taj Mahal. When we left the car, we thought that the driver told us that we shouldn’t get a guide, but when we bought our ticket, we were told that a guide was provided in the cost of the ticket. We tried our triangulation method to figure out if we were indeed supposed to get a guide with the price of admission, but Kristen remained especially skeptical. Her relationship with the guide did not improve has he tried to get her into various poses with the Taj- harem girl holding the Taj with her fingers, sitting on Lady’s Di’s bench, etc. The guide then tried to win her over with various optical illusions. “If you look this certain way it looks like the Taj is following you!” Kristen was not impressed. And then she refused to let him shine a pen light inside on the rocks because it damages them. The guide thought she was a wet blanket. And Mike was silently amused by the whole thing. The guide aside, the Taj was spectacular. Usually when you go to see some great wonder, when you finally get there after all of the hype, it’s a bit of a let down as you think, “is that it?” But, the Taj does not disappoint. We think it has something to do with all of the industrial smog in Agra that gives it a very mystical appearance. We took a lot of photos, but none of them quite capture the beauty and intricacies of the mosaics.





After we left the Taj, we were in for another treat- the “Baby Taj,” whose real name is the Tomb of Itmad-ud-Daulah. It is also a mausoleum, but was built before the Taj itself. It houses the remains of the grandfather of the woman for whom the Taj was built. It’s much smaller than the Taj Mahal, but the mosaics are much more intricate. It provided the architectural inspiration for the Taj itself. If you are ever in Agra, we highly recommend you add this to your list of things to see.





We rounded out our day by stopping at the Red Fort, which was another spectacular example of Mughal architecture.

We had two really good culinary experiences while we were in Agra. We were first sent to a really touristy restaurant by the hotel, so our next meal out, we told the driver we didn’t want to go where they were any tourists. He did not disappoint. We had a delicious meal where we shared a table with an Indian family because they had run out of seats and we got a lot of curious stares from our fellow customers. For dinner, we sampled the high end of Mughal cuisine. It was very tasty- dried fruits and nuts in the breads and curries. Yummy!

Our last adventure in Agra was to go to Fatehpur Sikri, a nearby location where there had been a major city before the inhabitants ran out of water and moved to Agra. We had a very confusing exchange with our driver from the previous days when he left us with another man who didn’t really speak English. But, after we got ourselves sorted we headed on our way via another tomb. Fatehpur Sikri was really interesting- a glimpse into the royal life of the Mugals with their multiple wives and harems.





Then it was time to head to Delhi to catch our flight to Kolkata for Durga Puja. We got to drive through rural villages and more cities to get a final glimpse into life in north central India before we headed to the land of the Bengals.