Agra Day 6: Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri
I’m dead tired. I arrived into Delhi at midnight last night (the only girl on the flight!!) and had to wake up at 630am today to make the 3.5-hour drive to Agra. On top of that, I couldn’t sleep at all in the car since our driver, Mukesh, kept waking me up to chat so he wouldn’t fall asleep. He’d driven the whole night all the way from Jaipur, which is about 6 hours away, and had just arrived in Delhi that morning at 2am. So I guess I have no right to complain.Other than the occasional wake-up plea, he seemed quite energetic and buoyant, which would prove to be a boon later on the drive to Jaipur. I highly recommend his company (Rajasthan 4WD; asinha@fourwheeldriveindia.com) and of course Mukesh himself, to anyone who chooses to travel through Delhi-Agra-Jaipur (or through Rajasthan) by car. They have comfy AC cars, are super professional (always on time, don’t take you to funny little shops), put a premium on safety (which, believe me, is life-or-death-important in India. He would take a break every 2 hours so as not to get too tired and he wouldn’t start the car unless I put my seatbelt on!), and the cheapest I could find (Rs.6500 vs. Rs.9000 other companies/taxis were charging). Anil, the managing director, even gave me a higher class of car for only an additional Rs.500 (vs. the actual premium of Rs.2000). The best thing though for me, is that there are no hidden costs, which other companies are prone to provide at the end, heavily inflating the original agreed-upon pricing. I paid exactly what was agreed, excluding tip of course.
Yotch and Wong lounging in the car
First stop in Agra was Sikandra, Akbar’s tomb. He was the greatest of the Mughal emperors, unifying the empire and “making a nation out of a mob.” Good to see this before the Taj, as everything else will pale in comparison.
No picture quite prepares you for the grandeur that is the Taj. Even the highest expectations don’t hold a candle to the real thing. Just the sight of this fantastic monument to love made the entire trip worthwhile, heat stroke and all. I guess that’s why they charge foreigners an obscene Rs.750 entrance fee (vs. Rs.50 for locals), as everyone will fork out the cash without much qualm.
Note the reflection in the water... Yotch's picture :)
We went at high noon with the cloudless sky making a fantastic blue backdrop. They say that sunrise or sunset is the best time to see the orange rays bounce off the white marble. I guess I will have to make a return trip to experience that, or the moonlit Taj.
The 3 Maria in front of the Taj
Hiring a guide at the gate is worth it, after all you’ve traveled this whole way to see the Taj specifically. And they don’t cost more than Rs.100 off-peak for an hour’s tour. Not only do they share the history, but also the best picture spots. Our guide was a little too touchy and offered to chat online with me after, which cut his tip in half. Ugh.
No matter what the guidebooks say, you don’t need to stay more than a day in Agra, much less sleep over. The major highlights are Sikandra and the Taj, the rest are skippable particularly if you will also visit Delhi or any city in Rajasthan where the forts are much more impressive. We even decided to see Itmad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb, nicknamed Baby Taj because it was the "draft", but honestly, after the Taj, this is just unremarkable. Its main claim to fame for us is Yotch’s new friend, the shoe-minder, who after asking her if she was Indian (“You Indian?”), proceeded to proclaim his Indian-ness (“Me Indian”) and point out everyone else who was Indian (“Him Indian”).
The beginning of the FPJ pose...
The other major sight is Fatehpur Sikri, a UNESCO site, but this is on the way to Jaipur. This is the capital of Akbar and is, for the most part, underwhelming. It’s quite huge but empty, and requires a whole lot of imagination to appreciate. The palace looked mostly like the workers stopped at the foundation and left it as a series of empty rooms.
What you shouldn’t miss though, is the Jama mosque adjacent to the palace and the tomb of Salim Chisti.
The mosque is a replica of the one in Mecca, and is still one of the holiest sites in India. Do not get forced into making substantial donations to get flowers and cloth for offering at the temple (like we did, see below).
And do not, under any circumstance, go with a guide that is not licensed by the Indian government (they should have an ID). He will do nothing except tell you to pay everyone for guarding your shoes (which you have to take off to enter the temple), pay for getting offerings you had no intention to make or pay for charity.
While the mosque is really nice, be careful being too friendly here. Unlike the other cities which were very nice to tourists, the people at Fatehpur Sikri seemed only interested in money. Even their seemingly friendly overtures were motivated by greed. We quickly learned to pretend we couldn’t understand English when asked “where are you from?” as the answer to this question inevitably led to requests for our currency as “souvenirs”. As if they were the tourists! After being asked one too many times, I finally lost it and shouted “NO” to one man who even had the gall to ask me indignantly, “Why not??!”
On a lighter note, we had quite a laugh when we saw this sign in the palace grounds. At first we thought it was a typo, “on” having accidentally been included. It became a running joke to each other to make sure we had no itchy parts before walking ahead. Then we realized it wasn’t a typo at all, judging by the number of men who kept scratching their privates! Talk about a different way of desecrating national monuments.
Then it was back in the car for another long drive to Jaipur (5-6 hours). We were kept company by the Hindi music Mukesh let us listen to, to broaden our cultural horizons. Broaden it did… For a particular song which was supposed to be about love, it translated to something like “I love you but if you do not love me back, I will kill you.” Yikes! Quite catchy though and soon enough, we were head-bopping to the rhythm of this maniac’s song.
Hopefully, by my next trip, the Indian government would have finished their road-widening efforts already. Otherwise, I need to get used to crazy driving in the 2-lane highway, sometimes facing oncoming traffic, without street lamps and dodging potholes, trucks, buffalos and camels, the last 2 obviously not having reflectors. You can’t say India isn’t an adventure!
posted by moan @ 4:14 PM
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