Fact: The Taj took 22 years and 20,000 people to build
The last day of our six day adventure tour with Jaypal Singh was in the City of Agra. The city is well known today for one monument: the Taj Mahal. You might call it one man’s eternal love for his dead wife in the form of an architectual masterpiece. Beside the building, Agra is a dirty industrial city with the craziness that reminded us of Delhi.
We arrived late at night and headed straight for the fancy western hotel the travel agent picked for us. Afterwords, we got back into the car and headed for dinner. When we stepped back into the vehicle, Jaypal looked as though something terrible had happened. Whats wrong?, I asked. What he told us, did not strike me as life threatening, but was a little bit of a bummer. Jaypal looked like he had just hit a crowd of schoolchildren and drove off into the night. What is it, I asked again.
-You will not be able to see the Taj Mahal tomorrow. I forgot, they close it on Fridays for the Muslim prayer. I have never done something like this in my whole life. You are like brothers to me. How could I have forgoten!!!
Adam then asked why we even needed to see the Taj Mahal, like he had never even heard about it. I turned to Singh and told him to relax. I figured, telling him, that if there was one thing that I would see upon returning to India the next time around, it would be the Taj Mahal. It’s kind of like going to Paris and missing the Eiffel Tower. Its not a fleeting image. Its been around for hundreds of years and will continue being there long after.
Surprised by our empathy, he promised us the only thing that was available to him: seeing the Taj from the backside. The next day we did just that, and quite honestly, It was just fine. I had more fun negotiating for and eventually walking out on the stores that sold leather goods and inlaid marble tables. We bought very little in Agra, and were ready to get home and embark on the last portion of our trip.
Another seven hours in the car negotiating our way through traffic, wedding parties, around autorickshaws, and past cattle crossings, brought us back to our humble home in Defense Colony where Promila and Surie waited for our stories and their servents attended to our needs.
It was a real whirlwind tour, one that I would not change. It was damn lucky to have found the driver and the car that we did. Jaypal even allowed me to drive his car on the highway for a half-an-hour on the way home (remember, its british style with the wheel on the right and the stick shift on the left!). The next day, Jaypal would have to start all over again, repeating a similiar but different journey with the next couple. Please call me if you need Mr. Singh to pick you up from the airport. He has got a great tape with the latest Indian pop singles.
Tags: Travel
Administrator
Leave a Reply