Llew Wanders the World

The train trip from Varanasi to Agra was actually fairly boring. For once there were many other tourists on the train (this trip was the only one of my five train journeys in India where I saw even ONE other foreigner on the train.) Given that we left Varanasi Station at 17:30, almost all of the 13hr trip was made in the dark. We had light for about one hour, during which we passed more of the flat, dry farmland I’d seen elsewhere in the country, though in this case, things were brightened by occaisional patches of marigolds being grown for use in religious garlands. The rest of the trip was spent fast asleep.

I’d heard really, really terrible stories about Agra from many different sources. From what I’d heard, every single person in Agra was out to steal from, cheat, or at least irritate visitors. The non-tourist portions of Agra were reputed to be dirty industrial areas. Several people told me that I should go to Agra, visit the Taj Mahal and then leave as soon as possible. As such, I hopped off the train at the Agra City station at 09:00, adjusted my ticket so I could leave that night, and then climbed back on for the trip to Agra Cantonment Station.

At Agra Cantonment, I dropped my big pack off at the left luggage office, then headed into town on foot.

Given the stories I’d heard about the place, I was so, so ready to use the puns “Agra-phobia” or “Agra-vating” somewhere in this entry, but as it turned out, my short time in Agra was actually pretty much Agra-eeable (which is even better, since the first two were stolen from other sources, but Agra-eeable was my own invention.)

As with Varanasi, I arrived in Agra planning on not encouraging the touts and predatory rickshaw drivers. An Indian fellow I’d met on the train had said to me “they’ll follow you for five minutes no matter what you do. If you look at them, it’ll be 15 minutes. If you talk to them, 1/2 an hour.” (He’d actually said this about people annoying HIM, a northerner, when he visited southern India.)

I walked along the (very pleasant wide, tree lined) streets headed into Agra. I put on my sunglasses, not even turning my head whenever a rickshaw driver called to me. After a bit of searching, I found an internet cafe in town and sat down to write for a bit before starting out again for the Taj Mahal itself in time for sunset.

I followed the signs pointing to the Taj, but somehow or other lost my way, and found myself on the road out of town. It was at this point when my relationship with rickshaw drivers took a dramatic change. I hadn’t wanted to take rides anywhere, since I was short on Indian Rupees, but didn’t want to buy more as I’d soon be leaving the country. Lost, hot and tired as I was (it was about 8km from the station to the Taj Mahal) I finally relented and spoke to a driver, explaining my situation, and why I couldn’t take a ride from him. “Oh, no problem,” said he. “Just come with me and look at three shops, and I’ll take you there for free.” He did just that. And while I had no interest in actually BUYING anything in these shops, the goods on sale at some of them were very pretty, and almost as good as a walk through a museum.

When he dropped me off he even walked over to a cold drinks cart and bought me a soft drink to sip as I walked through the park that surrounds the Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal was constructed by the Mughal king, Shah Jahan as a tomb for his favourite wife, Mumtaz. It was completed six months after her death (while delivering her 14th child!) in 1631. For many years the Taj was well looked after, but as India began to industrialize it fell on hard times. Agra became a very dirty industrial city, and the air pollution and acid rain this caused began to take its toll on the old marble structure.

In an effort to preserve the famous land mark, large tracts of Agra have been cleared of industrial development and now no pollution sources of any kind (cars, motorcycles, even cigarettes) are permitted within a kilometre or so of the structure. It’s still possible to grab a cycle rickshaw, or an electric “tempo” for the km or so through the gardens, but anything with an internal combustion engine is a no-no.

I walked through the gardens and arrived at the main tourist entrance to the Taj, near its eastern gate. I have to admit that here, the profusion of people pestering visitors to hire them as guides DID begin to irritate me a bit. Also particularly irritating was the fact that it cost foreigners 750 rupees (C$21) to enter the Taj. The rate for Indians was 20 rupees. I actually genrally don’t mind differential pricing like this. It’s only fair that wealthier tourists pay a higher rate than the citizens of the country to whom a montument “belongs.” But my understanding ends when foreigners are expected to pay almost FORTY TIMES as much. Grumble.

Before I entered I also had to deposit my swiss army knife and mp3 player in a locker (not only are cigarettes and food not allowed inside, but anything that might be used for “terrorist” purposes is also banned. I’m not sure why they thought it’s possible to use an mp3 player for terrorist purposes, but not a digital camera. As usual, I restrained myself from asking, as this sort of thing never helps.)

Having entered the complex I first filled up my water bottle at the drinking station (one positive of the exorbitant entry fee was that as with many tourist sights in India, there was free purified water available inside.)

The eastern gate itself was spectacular enough, its red sandstone bulk towering above the people in the courtyard below. Even if the Taj hadn’t been there, this would have been an attraction in its own right. The first view of the Taj Mahal itself, through the darkened archway of the gate was even more wonderful (aside from one quick glimpse of it on the train, I actually hadn’t seen the Taj from anywhere during my walk up to it!)

I walked out into the beautiful gardens that surround the Taj and saw the full majesty of the tomb with all of its surroundings.

I wandered around the complex for almost three hours, stopping for quite a while at the mosque which occupies the subsidiary building to the south of the tomb. Here I sat and watched the colour of the stone change as the sun slipped lower and lower in the sky. I also listened to the irritable shouts of the officials who had to continually tell people not to dip their feet or splash around in the ritual bathing pool nearby. I can understand their irritation at having to put up with this day after day after day.

I continued meandering about the outside of the structure, saying hello to the monkeys that inhabit it, as well as the thousands of tourists that are less permanent residents. Visitors can walk anywhere they please inside the compound, including right up to the base of the towering (entirely ornamental) minarets, or to the walls of the platform that the tomb rests on.

At the northeast corner of the complex is a small air quality monitoring station where daily readings are made in an attempt to judge the success of the preservation program (the Sulfur Dioxide, Nitrogen Oxides and Suspended Particulate measurements shown are 3, 17 and 58.3, meaning that they’re doing just fine.)

From the outlying building on the northern side (a mirror image of the mosque to the south) the sun was directly behind the Taj Mahal itself, leading to some beautiful silhouetted views of the structure. I headed back to the southern side for one more look at the suns rays shining off the face of the tomb before climbing up the platform to the building proper. Before doing this, I had to remove my shoes in order to reduce wear on this most popular part of the structure.

Right up close to the tomb is where the prettiest details of the building reveal themselves. The reliefs and other carving on the marble are very pretty, but the real masterpieces are the pietra dura inlays. To create these, pieces of coloured stone are shaped, then set into precisely fitted openings in the white marble substrate. The multicoloured flowers seen above are lovely, but perhaps the most impressive are the black marble verses from the Qu’ran. Both of these, however, pale when compared to the work inside the tomb on the screen surrounding Mumtaz’ resting place. The detail on this screen is spectacular, and in the fading light many guides placed flashlights directly on the stone, showing how, under the right circumstances, the white marble’s translucent nature can give a beautiful backlit appearance to the coloured stone.

The pietra dura is lovely in its own right, but in several areas it was used to additional effect, producing optical illusions such as the one seen on this (actually hexagonal) column.

Back outside the Taj the colour of the marble had turned an even deeper gold, and although the sun was almost down the crowds hadn’t abated one bit. This was perhaps the time when the Taj was at its prettiest (though I imagine at sunrise could possible be still better.)

I walked down off the platform and back through the gardens towards the eastern gate. About halfway there, sat a large, white marble platform, the point from which visitors take THE photo of the Taj Mahal.

My visit to the Taj complete, I set about finding some food, as well as my way back to the railway station. I picked up a rickshaw driver who agreed to take me where I needed to go in return for a few minutes of feigned interest at souvenier shops. I actually ended up spending quite a while at some of these, partly because their wares were genuinely pretty (especially the gorgeously colourful and intricate pietra dura marble) and partly because everyone in the shops kept offering me soft drinks, tea and so forth. I still had no intention of buying anything, but they never asked, and given my rupees situation I was quite happy to take advantage of these offers.

My last stop was at a mall in the centre of the bazaar area. There wasn’t a tourist to be seen here, but it was still buzzing with loads of Indians out and about in the warm evening. I asked around and found a delicious Punjabi restaurant to eat at before heading out (on foot once again) for the station. The walk back was different in a few ways. First, throughout the day my manner had softened, and I was quite happy to say hello (or at least a polite “no thanks”) to the people I passed on the way. Second, there were many fewer people about, and it was quite dark out. This had me feeling a little nervous, both at the thought of being robbed, attacked whatever (small chance) and at the thought of meeting one of the many vehicles cruising around with no headlights on (soemewhat larger chance.) Even so, I made it to the station in one piece, and spent the next three hours reading and occaisionally chatting with people while waiting for my trains 00:18 departure.

The trip was nice, and the countryside of Punjab state was perhaps the prettiest I’d yet seen in India. The buildings looked tideir, and the fields more organized and prosperous (though a fellow passenger told me that even in Punjab most farms are still only about 1 acre in size.) Punjab is India’s richest state, and it showed. Apparently most of the farms are owned by Punjabis, but actually worked by residents of nearby Uttar Pradesh or Bihar states.

While the ride WAS nice, I couldn’t help feeling more and more irritable as it went on. The train trip was supposed to take 13.5 hours, which would allow me plenty of time to arrive in Amritsar, take a bus to the border and be in Pakistan before nightfall. In the end, however, it took almost 18 hours to make the journey, with a final 40 minute stop just outside Amritsar station sealing my fate. (I know that it’s not entirely fair to have my only photo of Amritsar be one of an impromptu garbage dump [which I watched people sift through in search of saleable metal items] but I WILL be returning, and promise to give a nicer accounting of this beautiful city then.)

After finding myself a guesthouse midway between the train and bus stations, I went out to see a bit of the town. I changed some money (my final reserves of Indian rupees hadn’t held out, and I wanted a few Pakistani rupees on arrival, so I got US$5 worth of each) and ate an absolutely delicious dinner at an unimposing, but busy restaurant on my way back to the hotel. A potato-pea curry, as well as a gobi-aloo (potatos and cauliflower) much spicier than those at home, were combined with delicious fresh baked naan (flat bread made in a clay oven called a tandoor.)

I headed back to my guesthouse past some surprising (both for their presence and their beauty) “light sculptures” and wrote a bit more at a nearby internet cafe. I headed to bed, and managed a good sleep (despite the train tracks behind the hotel) in preparation for my journey to Pakistan the next morning…

Tags: India

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