Doing Agra

I talked with one of the people at the guest house. I think it was the father of the man who ran the place. He was telling me about how best to go and experience the Taj Mahal. He told me that there was a time when there was no security, and no fences, and most importantly not that many people. He told me about when he was young and people would go and be around the mausoleum during the September full moon. The moon was so large and red it turned the dome of the Taj Mahal red. It sounded beautiful and I told him he was very lucky.

He said the second best thing was to view the Taj Mahal at sunrise. As the sun rose it glinted off the jewels in the dome and made it sparkle. That made my decision. I was going to get up and watch sunrise at the Taj Mahal. I went to bed early to be able to get up at 6 so I could get across to the ticket office by 6:30 and get my ticket to get in. The guest house where I was staying was only a few minutes walk from the ticket office.

I got up and realized immediately that this might not turn out as I was hoping. There seemed to be a fair amount of fog, although it was still dark and perhaps it might have been haze or something else. And the fog might clear up before sunrise, even though that wasn't very far away. I went off to the ticket office in the hopes that it would clear and provide a nice view of the Taj Mahal at the time of sunrise.

As I arrived in the general area of the ticket office, I first talked with the police who were there. I had read about a number of regulations regarding a visit to the site. They mostly stated that you really can't take anything other than a camera into the enclosed area. This is mostly about security concerns after some recent terrorist attacks in India. But it has meant more headaches for visitors as they stream to have a look at some of India's most well-known tourist venues.

I was told that first I would need to visit the locker area, lock up my stuff and then go to get a ticket. I headed in the direction where I was pointed and quickly found the locker room. And I paid 20 rupees to lock up my stuff. I suppose they might have pointed out that I could have left my stuff in my room and not needed to rent a locker, but in every place you go, you are cautioned never to leave valuables in a hotel room. It is too easy to get robbed that way and there is no recourse whatsoever. So caught between a rock and a hard place, it was necessary to bring my stuff with me to the Taj Mahal and consequently rent a locker. But it stuck in my craw that I was going to paying the high price of being a foreigner visiting the Taj Mahal and I still had to pay to use a locker for my stuff. That seemed like a big middle finger to the foreign visitors.

But, if I was going to visit the mausoleum, there wasn't much choice. I paid and went to the ticket office. Here I was confronted with an even more monstrous inflation of entrance fees than I have found anywhere else in India. The total charges came to 750 rupees for foreigners. (And the authorities can talk all they want about how 500 of it was the Agra Development Authority and that they were the ones making it so expensive. I don't care. I had to pay it and I don't give a crap why.) For an Indian the entrance came to 20 rupees. Ouch! Oh, and the 20 for the locker. Then it was off to collect a free bottle of water and some booty covers for shoes while walking around the actual mausoleum.

I don't know if it was some kind of acknowledgement of how much they charge foreigners. Maybe they wanted to cushion the blow somewhat. Maybe they were trying to find some more politically correct way to phrase the name of the line, “foreigners” simply becoming to offensive a term in these times. But they had four lines for people to line up in. There was the Indian gents line and the Indian ladies line. And then there were the High-value ticket, gents, and the High-value tickets, ladies lines. I'm not sure why they bothered exactly. They didn't really treat the lines as different. The high-value ticket lines weren't given any sort of preferential treatment. They weren't allowed in sooner or processed any faster. But we did get some fairly stupid guards, or so it seemed. Part of getting in was a pat down as we passed through the gates. We were allowed to keep wallets and money and passports and all, but not any cell phones or other such devices, nor any weapons like knives. Everyone was asked to turn out their pockets, and in an effort to just make it all faster I pulled out all the stuff in my pockets and had it in my hands. I had a key for my room, my watch and money, and of course the “free” bottle of water I had been given. But my hands were full. And I had forgotten about the money pouch that I have on my side. In it are some computer memory sticks where I keep a copy of my photos. So it came for my turn for a pat down and the guard felt my pouch and felt the memory sticks and wanted me to get them out. Now. I showed him that my hands were full, which he probably really should have noticed for himself. But I had to get whatever it was out of my money pouch. Now. But what about... Now. But where can I put... Now. OKAY FINE! And I threw the stuff in my hands down to the ground and then opened my money pouch to show him what he wanted to see. He barely seemed to notice that I had thrown my stuff on the ground though, and was really concerned about what these things I had were. Were they knives? His superior came over, as he did notice that there was stuff all over the ground now. He saw the memory sticks and told the guard what they were and that I was okay. Then he asked why the stuff was all over the ground. The guard told him I had thrown it there. The guy looked at me, and noticed how angry I was, and then everyone got really apologetic. I guess being a high-value ticket holder did actually mean something. I got an apology and was told he was just doing his job. I can actually appreciate things like that, but the stupidity involved in not acknowledging that the person you face has his hands full and that needs to addressed before other things can happen really got to me. Give your heads a shake boys!!!

But I got through and then headed to the audio guide booth. I thought that it would be a good idea to have a guide of some kind to make my way through the site. I wasn't about to pay another 900 rupees for a flesh and blood one, and I have been finding that the audio that have been provided at other places have been quite good. Of course, they were also part of the entrance price. I was going to have to pay for this one. Well, it was par for the course, I figured. Soak the foreign visitors as much as possible was beginning to be how it felt.

I purchased my audio guide, placed my passport in trust as collateral and set out.

Finally I was in a position to have a look around the Taj Mahal. But the area was still shrouded in mist and fog. This was not looking good. In fact the whole experience so far had been less than ideal.

The first spot was the entrance gate. It was quite elaborate. And somewhat obscured by fog.

Now, I have come a long way and one of the things I definitely wanted to see while in India was the Taj Mahal. It has had a special mystique about it for a long time, with its attached story of unending love and what lengths people go to to remember it when it's gone. So I stepped through the gate and got my first true view of this monument to love lost. Er... Hmmm... Well, maybe not.

Hopefully if I waited around for long enough, the fog would clear and the Taj Mahal would be visible and it wouldn't be a truly disappointing visit.

Now the rest of the complex was interesting and full of symmetry and well made buildings. I walked around with my audio guide and reached the platform where the Taj Mahal rested. This was where I was to put on my booties. I started to put on the booties and the attendant that was there said to wait and he would help me. He did. Then he asked for a tip. Are you kidding me? I have paid 20 for the locker, 750 to get in, and 105 for the audio guide, and you want a consideration for helping me with my booties? I was supremely annoyed. And then I went up on the platform and was listening to the information about the building at the east side of the mausoleum. Suddenly the audio guide stopped. Oh, crap! A final ignominy in my visit to the Taj Mahal. The battery ran out. So I trudged back to the booth and exchanged it for a new one. But again, I was faced with incomprehensible unthinkingness. I told the woman that my audio guide battery had become depleted. She asked me what if I wanted another one. Um, no, I paid all this money to get into the complex and get an audio guide, but I haven't had the chance to listen to it all yet, but I'm just gonna go now. Thanks. NO! YOU IDIOT! I WANT A NEW ONE!!! I was beginning to wonder where they were finding these people who couldn't think.

I got my replacement audio guide and headed back in. And then a little bit of magic happened. The fog was lifting a little bit. I sat down on a bench with a couple of others and we watched as the Taj Mahal slowly materialized out of the fog into reality.

I finished my tour and then went back for a final look at the Taj before heading out to see what else there was to see. I got one of those iconic views of the mausoleum, white against a blue sky. There were even not that many people about to mar the photos.

The rest of the complex was quite interesting and I was glad I had the audio guide, but truly the mausoleum was the star of that site, so I will move on as I moved on after spending about three hours exploring the site.

I left the mausoleum grounds and picked up my stuff. Then I headed off to find the Agra Fort, avoiding the pedi-cab drivers that kept telling me how far it was to get there and that I couldn't possibly be considering walking there. Yes, I can, bucko. Buzz off! They were like flies.

I got to the Agra Fort without too much trouble and it was also much less than the 4 kilometers the pedi-cab drivers were telling me it was. The liars!! That sort of thing just drives me up the wall. It's not just that I have fallen for it in the past and so I hate them all. It is just easier to believe they are lying to me when they try and tell me how far something is and how much it will therefore cost. And it's the reason I also never really trust taxi drivers of any sort.

At Agra Fort I went in and paid for my ticket. This time it only cost 250 rupees. Because I had bought the Agra Development Authority portion of the things at the Taj Mahal, I didn't have to buy it again here. It was a fee that was good for the day. Of course, there were a number of spots in the area that fell under that fee, so I had only the day to see what I felt was interesting. I was not going to pay it again.

Once again, I felt that the site deserved the audio guide, so I headed in to get it. And ran into another bit of stupidity. Security concerns seem to be rampant around these monuments and sites near Delhi. I guess the most recent terrorist attacks have spooked the government to the point that they are trying to stifle any chance future terrorists will try to cause damage to the monuments. It does make sense, but they have not made any of it particularly friendly to the visitors.

I got to the security checkpoint. And the guard asked if I had a laptop. I did. He told me that I couldn't take any electronics in with me. Okay. What do I do with it? You can't take it with you. I got that the first time. Where can I leave it? You can't take it in with you. I handed my bag to him and told him to hold it for me until I was finished. He finally seemed to understand that I needed a place to leave my bag if I was going to visit the fort. He finally pointed the way to the cloak room. I don't know what it is with these guys who have to have this kind of person before them reasonably often. They have to know that we need a place to put our stuff. It has to occur to them, doesn't it?

I went and put my bag into the cloak room, into a locker that the guy had available. And then I went to get my audio guide. I gave the guy in the booth 110 rupees and he gave me my audio guide. Then I walked off into the fort to take my tour. It was shortly after I was into the fort proper that it occurred to me that I had not gotten any change. The audio guide was 100 rupees and there was a tax assessed at 5 rupees. I should have received 5 rupees change and I hadn't. And then I realized that I hadn't received any change for the similar transaction at the Taj Mahal. And this of course made the whole debacle at the Taj complete.

But I settled in to try and enjoy the fort as much as possible. It was a nice fort. It was also kind of empty, except for the people visiting.

Agra Fort was built by early Mughal rulers, but the last and most important additions were made by Shah Jahan, the man who had the Taj Mahal built. There were 13 or 14 “palaces” within the fort, but they all seemed to be interconnected and part of the structure of the inside of the fort. I couldn't tell them apart except for the audio commentary. The architecture was quite nice.

There was a ruined palace in the corner.

And from the fort windows looking over the Yamuna River, it was possible to see the Taj Mahal. And that was what Shah Jahan spent the last eight years of his life doing, looking out the windows at his creation that held the body of his beloved deceased wife. One feature of the Mughal empire was the amount of infighting amongst families for power and the throne. Throughout the reign of the Mughal empire, sons often fought amongst themselves for control and power. And the winner amongst the sons often overthrew the reigning emperor, his father. Such was the case with the final two Mughal emperors, Shah Jahan and his son Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb took on an older brother, but Aurangzeb was more brutal and merciless. He beat the older brother and had him executed. He took his father, Shah Jahan, prisoner and placed him in the Agra Fort. He also had other brothers killed to prevent any of them from trying to usurp the throne. Aurangzeb's reign began the slow decline of the Mughal empire, and it eventually subsided into history with Aurangzeb being the last.

And Shah Jahan remained imprisoned in the Agra Fort staring across the river, longing for his lost wife.

At the end of the tour of the fort, I returned my audio guide and explained how I had been ripped off. The woman in the booth apologized for the error and gave me my change, which I didn't expect, and allowed me to write the whole business down in the guest feedback book. I hope it makes them aware of the problem of change, particularly when they have guests who are already paying so much to even go to the sites.

After completing my visit to the Agra Fort, I thought to go and visit the third World Heritage Site in Agra, the Fatehpur Sikri. This was an old mosque complex from the time of the Mughal Empire. However, it was going to require getting to a bus station, followed by a one hour bus ride. It was already 1 in the afternoon by this time, and I just didn't think I had the time to manage it. And I wasn't going to bother the next day. I was already disillusioned enough with Agra to really be interested in staying another day.

So I thought about where I could go instead. I didn't know too much about anything else in Agra, but the night before, after I had arrived and checked into the hotel, I went for a walk and found a park that was called the Taj Nature Walk. There was supposedly a viewing area for the Taj Mahal and it was ideal for sunrise or sunset. I had also seen a sign for a bear rescue facility. I thought I could visit those and try to get away from the touts and tourists.

I first tried to get into the bear rescue facility. Unfortunately the signs I had seen were for a facility that was 10 or 12 kilometers outside the city. Again I didn't think I could reach it that day, so I just headed to the park. And it was indeed a very nice park. It had trees and walking paths and lots and lots of space. There were also very few people. And it did indeed have viewing areas for the Taj Mahal. These viewing spots were quite good in fact.

Off in one corner of the park there was a viewing tower that had been erected. I went up and just sat to watch the sun set and see if the Taj Mahal changed through any dramatic colours. It would have been idyllic. Except for the guy who seemed to be a bit of a tout. He came along and followed me up the tower and then sat and talked. And talked. And talked. And despite the fact that I gave very few answers, or said much at all, he still talked. He just didn't seem to take the hint that I would prefer to just be left in peace. He even said himself that tourists liked to come in there and just enjoy the peace of the park. He told me of how at times he had saved visitors from people who wouldn't let them be. I wished he would save me from himself. Eventually though, after trying numerous times to suggest that I might want to go somewhere else in the park or even, gasp, his shop he seemed to finally give up and he wandered off. And I finally was able to just stare at the Taj Mahal.

In the end though, the sunset also didn't work out. As had been the case with the morning, there was just too much atmospheric interference. It was fog this time, but haze and pollution that was just too thick. The sun slowly faded out long before it hit the horizon for sunset and the colours of the mausoleum just never really went through any changes. It still was a beautiful sight from my perch in the park.

And then I headed back to my hotel to get some shuteye before heading into Delhi the next morning.

I guess the question is, was it worth it? For the moment, I have to say that I probably wish I hadn't been there in many ways. The Taj Mahal is a beautiful building. And the story behind it is touching. It's the story of love that we probably all wish we had. And in time, I do believe I will look back and remember watching the mausoleum materialize into existence from that early morning fog.

But for now, it was just such a series of problems and annoyances. From stupid guards to getting ripped off, to paying so much only to be expected to pay more, those have left this bitter taste in my mouth.

In a way, I'm glad I came here towards the end of my visit to India. I have experienced so many nice people and fantastic hospitality. I know how very good this country is, and its people as well. And I got that before I got to this ickiness in the Golden Triangle. Up until Jaipur, although it was always a part of my time in India that I was a visitor who paid more than Indians, the emphasis has always been on the visitor part of who I am here. And people have really treated me as an honoured guest so very often. Since I have reached Jaipur and then Agra, the emphasis has been on the high-paying part of who I am, and how much money I can be persuaded to leave behind. And I have been kind of disgusted by the mercenariness that exists in this part of India. I feel so bad for any visitors that come here and only have time for a short visit, and can only experience the Golden Triangle of Jaipur, Agra, and Delhi. They are are missing out on the real experience of India and its people and go away with a jaded view of the country. And I feel sorry for the rest of the people of India who are painted so poorly by the experience of those who can only travel in this area.

Not all Indians are like the huge number of them that are found here that only want the money that a tourist will leave behind. There are so many good people.

And I look forward to the day when I can remember all of them, and look back on my magical visit to the Taj Mahal in the light of their hospitality.