Get me to the Taj Mahal…

5:15 AM:  Call from front desk:  “Cab here.” 

5:45 AM at the railroad station with Rahul.  Rahul remembered to bring a SIM card for me.  He changed out my SIM card for his SIM card while standing at the platform.  He dialed his number to make sure my phone rang.  He said he’d top off the minutes when he gets time later today.

Twenty minutes later, after an announcement in Hindi, Rahul told me to come with him because there was a platform change, from 1, where we were, to 5, upstairs.

The Shabadti Express, which is normally one of the few Indian trains with an on-time record, was late today, due to “technical difficulties.”  Rahul escorted me to my window seat with table.  He said he’d see me again tonight when I return to Delhi.

I shared my table with three sisters of an Indian family.  The eldest sister next to me told me they were on their way to a wedding, which typically lasts 3 days.  Daughter 2 sat across from 1 and the youngest daughter 3 sat across from me.  3 kept busy (to 2’s annoyance), with coloring books and paper punches of various shapes. 

Breakfast was served: 

• Tea and biscuits (cookies) first.  3 tried to gather up all the biscuits from her family.  She began to cry when her sister and father wanted to keep their package of biscuits.  2 switched with mom, so mom could hug 3 to stop her from crying – after mom forced 2 and dad to give up their packages, which 3 didn’t eat; she just hoarded the cookies into her bag. 
• Bag of cornflakes followed by a porter pouring hot milk
• Jam and soft white bread
• Non-vegetarian spicy egg – consistency of a crepe, probably from liquid egg substitute
•  green beans
• Jyoti breath refresher (made with candy coated licorice, anise seeds, sugar pearls, etc.)

9:02 AM:  Arrive Agra station.  I was met by Dilip, my local Trinity representative.  We drove to the office to pick up my local Agra guide, Gauri (pronounced “Goree”).  The heat of the day had already begun to rise.  It felt like 85°F. 

I was deeply disappointed with my Agra guide, Gauri; in particular, my experience at the Taj Mahal.  First, I followed her into the place where I purchased my shoe covers.  She said something non-English to the man selling the shoe covers and paper bags of bottled water.  He gave her an ice cold bottle of water.  She handed me the shoe covers, put the water in her purse and told me to pay the man.  I saw other tourists with the paper bag containing the bottled water and was upset that she kept the water for herself. 

At the gate, my bags and I were searched for contraband, namely food.  I was carrying two food bars in my purse, which I had forgotten about.  Gauri took the food bars from the searcher and walked them over to the gatekeeper while explaining that I had forgotten that I was carrying them.

After we entered the gates of the Taj Mahal, she said we should go in the shade while she told me something about the Taj Mahal.  She told me the story (same information I read on the Internet).  She also told me about the workmanship of the marble, what to look for and also to avoid getting in trouble, should someone offer to show me the marble lit by flashlight.  Then she told me to go follow the path to the Taj Mahal and take my time, she would wait for me in the shade.  I expected her to guide me while at the monument.  When I asked her, “Aren’t you coming with me?”  She replied, “What for?  I already told you all you needed to know.”  With much disappointment, I walked to the monument and looked around the monument by myself, having to shoo away the young men offering to be my friend and/or give me a tour.  I was surprised they were able to get inside and why didn’t security stop them if they weren’t escorting a paying tourist?

The story of the Taj Mahal:  Emperor Shah Jahan’s third wife Mumtaz Mahal died due to complications delivering their 14^th child.  Before she died, she asked Shah Jahan to promise her two things:  build a monument in her memory and not beget children with any other wife after her death.  Mumtaz was Shah Jahan’s most beloved wife.  He kept his promises.  Gauri said there was a third promise that he not remarry, but I couldn’t find anything on the Internet to confirm this third promise.

It took 20,000 craftsmen 22 years (1631-1653) to construct the Taj Mahal.  Shah Jahan planned to build a mirror image of the Taj Mahal in black marble across the River Yamuna for his own tomb, but funds ran out and his son Aurangzeb, who assumed the Mogul throne, imprisoned Shah Jahan at Agra Fort.  Shah Jahan spent his last years viewing the Taj Mahal from Agra Fort.  Shah Jahan’s tomb is next to Mumtaz.  The addition of Shah Jahan’s tomb is the only part of the Taj Mahal that is not symmetrical.

The white marble wasn’t the only striking feature of the monument.  The inlay work (pietra dura) of semi-precious stones was so amazingly precise, that it is hard to believe that each piece was made by hand with a grinder to fit like a puzzle piece into a scraped out area in the marble.  To think that Shah Jahan had several of this type of building decorated in this manner created at the same time during his reign. 

When I returned to Gauri about an hour later, she took two photos of me from a place she said was a particularly good photo spot.  Upon return to the gates via an electric car, she told me to tip the driver.  When we walked out of the gates, she retrieved from the gatekeeper two food bars that were confiscated from my purse on the way in. 

Gauri took me to a place where, purportedly, the descendents of the Taj Mahal marble craftsmen still prepared the marble in the same traditional method as of the days of the building of the Taj Mahal.  She sat at a separate table as I was hard-saled into purchasing a marble table top.  I’m sure she received a generous commission for bringing me in.

After I told her that I was not able to be in Agra in time to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise, she said that we should skip Fatehpur Sikri, because it’s not as nice as the Agra Fort and “You’ve seen one fort, you’ve seen them all.” AND it was about 1.5 hours away.  Fatehpur Sikri was specifically suggested to me by two of my Indian friends and I specifically negotiated it into my itinerary.  Gauri offered that, if I would skip seeing Fatehpur Sikri, she would take me back to the Taj Mahal at sunset so I could see the warm colors – similar to the sunrise – from another angle (the back of the Taj Mahal by the Moonlit Garden) with no additional entrance fees, and also take me to see the “Baby Taj”.  I agreed, because my goal was to get very good photos of the Taj Mahal for my next book.

It was almost noon and very hot.  Gauri asked if I were ready for lunch.  She took me to the Luxury Collection Hotel, recommending the Peshawri Restaurant that served traditional Indian food.  The restaurant didn’t open until 12:30.  Gauri told me to wait until 12:30 for the restaurant to open, have a relaxing lunch and she’d pick me up in the lobby at 3:30 pm.

I was the only person in the restaurant for the first and last hour.  Only two other tables were occupied during the second hour.  When you are the only person in a restaurant, the staff has nothing better to do but to check on you every 10 minutes to see if you’ve completed your meal.  I should also mention that the food was good, but the prices were exorbitant:  1875 INR (approx. $40 USD) for their lowest priced chicken kabob meal and a bottle of water. 

Gauri picked me up from the lobby at 3:30 pm.  We went to Agra Fort.  She gave me a quick tour, because the heat was very intense – she said the temperature was 48C ( = 118F).  Gauri said it was a working Fort and only 25% was open to the public. 

“Baby Taj”:  We were just about the only people touring this place.  Gauri took me to the shoe cover man and told me to pay for shoe covers.  Luckily, I kept my shoe covers from the Taj Mahal.  On the way out, she wanted me to tip the man, but I didn’t use his services, so I didn’t. 

When we went to the area next to the Moonlit Garden to view the back of the Taj Mahal, it was only 5:00 pm.  I asked her when sunset is expected.  Gauri looked up at the sky then replied, “Oh, there’s too much haze, you won’t get a good sunset.  Just take your pictures now.”  I took some pictures, but felt tricked into getting talked out of seeing Fatehpur Sikri. 

I asked if it were possible to go the Fatehpur Sikri after all.  She said with a smile, “No, it’s too far, you won’t be back in time for your train.”  My train leaves at 8:30 pm, I was supposed to be at the train station at 7:30 pm. 

When we returned to the car, Gauri said that I had seen everything on my itinerary – except Fatehpur Sikri – and I had 2.5 hours to kill.  Gauri offered to take me to a textile factory, but I knew I’d be set up again for another hard-sell where she’d be collecting another commission.  Gauri said there was nothing else to see in Agra. 

I was then dropped off at the Luxury Collection Hotel to wait for 2.5 hours until 7:30 pm, when the driver would take me back to the train station. 

Had I not let Gauri talk me out of Fatehpur Sikri, with the swiftness of my tours, I could have seen Fatehpur Sikri, gone back to see Baby Taj and the back of the Taj Mahal at sunset all before returning to the train station by 7:30 pm.  As my dad says, “Live and Learn.”

The train was late.  It arrived about 10:00 pm.  Dilip was great; staying with me to make sure I was safely on my way back to New Delhi.

While waiting at the hot, humid and musty train station, a young girl – maybe 16 – with a naked baby girl in arm came up to me begging.  Her hair was uncombed.  She was dirty, as if sleeping in the streets for some time.  She stood over me for a while with sad, begging eyes and a palm up.  I tried to ignore her.  Dilip looked up then shooed her away from me. 

Also while waiting, Dilip pointed out a man dressed in all white gauze khadi-styled suit, identifying that person as a member of parliament, “They’re all corrupt.  There’s a lot of corruption here.”  As it turned out, that same man (Number 1) and three other members were seated by me (two at my table across from me, Number 1 was at a table on the opposite side of the train and another (Number 4) was seated two seats behind Number 1.

Before the train departed, a security guard, armed with a semi-automatic rifle, came on board, checked the overhead luggage rack for a small carry-on, which he pulled out.  I thought that someone was going to get arrested.  The security guard brought the piece of luggage to Number 4.  Number 4 opened it, took out a piece of paper, locked the luggage, eyed the security guard, who proceeded to return the luggage to the overhead rack.  During the trip, the security guard brought the luggage to Number 4 again.  I guess Number 4 had his own personal security guard. 

Number 1 sat down with a bark to the wait-staff to bring him dinner, which the wait-staff complied immediately.  Number 1 sat devouring his dinner and extra water without gratitude.  I was asked by the wait-staff, “Dinner?”  I wasn’t sure if he asked if I’d had dinner or wanted dinner.  I replied, “I haven’t had any.” To which he must have decided I meant that I didn’t want any.  Not a problem, as I wasn’t really hungry, nor did I want a large meal after a hot day around midnight.  When the wait-staff placed on our table the tip tray with packets of breath refresher, the others at the table tossed in some money and gave me a look suggesting I should also tip.  I did not feel compelled to toss in any tip money, having had no services rendered to me. 

Upon arrival at midnight in New Delhi, Rahul was there to greet me.  What a relief.  So very worth having set up escorts while in India. 

The driver brought me back to The Comfort Inn.  I asked if I’d see them tomorrow, to which Rahul answered, “Yes, at 10 am. We’ll call for you from the lobby.”  I held off tipping, since I’d see them tomorrow.