Agra

India's Most Iconic Monument

India has several different classes of train tickets, none of which can be easily bought on their state run website. Our train from Amritsar to Agra was an over night trip, so air conditioning was a must. All of the second and third class air conditioned car tickets has been sold out. Fortunately, first class was not all that expensive and it was still available. For this trip, we had a completely private compartment in an air conditioned sleeper car. This time, the air conditioning worked great. The accommodations were better than many of the motels we stayed in. If I had a complaint, it was only that with a private compartment, there weren’t as many people to talk to. We remedied this by exploring second and third class, and visiting with amicable parties in our first class car. I watched rural India roll past as I wrote and relaxed. Train travel is more pleasant than taking buses. You can walk or go to the bathroom whenever you need to. There is more space. I enjoyed this train ride.
We arrived in Agra on the morning of the 29th. We found a nice motel up a questionable road for a great price, then set out to explore Agra. We planned to meet a friend from Lubbock’s Sunset International Bible Institute at the Taj Mahal the following day, so Caleb and I went to look at Agra’s other sites. Agra had its own red fort, a very large facility covering nearly 100 acres. The earliest history of the fort is not clear, but it was captured by the Mughals and played an important part of their history in the 16th century. It was rebuilt with the current sandstone configuration during that era and changed hands a few times before it was captured by the British in the early 19th century. There were monkeys running around parts of the walls. There were a couple of mosques built internally, and it had excellent views of the Taj Mahal. It was an impressive facility on its own, the second most significant edifice in Agra.
We did some shopping afterward and saw a couple of minor sites. We found a nice viewpoint across the river from the Taj Mahal to look back across at the landmark at sunset. This was nice, but it had been another hot, sticky day. We retired to our room, enjoyed a nice cool shower, and bought our tickets online to visit the Taj the next day.

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We were planning to meet our friend Princeton at the Taj, but did not know exactly when he would arrive. It turns out, he was busy coordinating a large group of other employees and associates of Sunset who would also be in attendance. They were making a day trip out to Agra just to see the Taj. We waited to hear from them until about 11:00 for instructions on when to meet, then decided in the meantime some of the lesser attractions while we waited. We caught a taxi to Chini ka Rauza where again our cab dropped us off “within a hundred meters” of a place that turned out to be about half a mile away. This tomb was built by the same Shah who ordered the construction of the Taj Mahal. This tomb was made for his vizier (highest ranking court official). We eventually found what was apparently the complex we were looking for. Signage indicated that it was a historic monument, but Google Maps could not figure out how to guide us there. Some locals pointed us down a path through a large garbage dump. We demurred and opted to stay on the road, not certain what dangers some strangers might be pointing us toward. We first encountered a secondary building with a gate around it and a path through. We went inside to see a mostly abandoned building with two rough looking characters sitting inside doing drugs. We decided to see if we could find our way inside the main building. We found only exterior walls that led to the river. We couldn’t get in. Apparently, the path through the garbage dump had been the way in. Right about then, we got a message from Princeton that the SIBI party was about an hour away. Rather than brave the trash dump to see the place for 10 minutes, we scooted back to the Taj, where again our driver left us “about a hundred meters” from the entry which was actually a little over a kilometer away.

The SIBI group arrived at about 1:30 and we met them inside the most well known landmark in all of India. On our long walk toward the entry, Caleb and I met more of the local monkeys. One of them was smart enough to startle Caleb long enough to steal his drink bottle. Not knowing what else to do, I turned the monkey’s tactics against him. I jumped toward him and let out a big holler that startled the monkey into dropping the bottle. I swiped it up as the monkeys scurried up a tree. Monkey see, monkey do.

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Seeing the Taj Mahal was a bucket list item for me, and it was worth the visit. I don’t know if I can say anything about it that you don’t already know. It is a large memorial built by Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor, after the death of his third wife. She died giving birth to their 13th child. These rulers were Muslims. As such, the mausoleum itself is decorated with the beautiful Arabic calligraphy and floral and geometric designs common to many mosques. There are twin mosques on either side of the main mausoleum. I am far from the first to point this out, but there is some irony in the fact that the very icon of “Hindustan” is a piece of Islamic architecture. It was hot and humid when we visited, though we were somewhat accustomed to this by now. I think it may have been overwhelming to some in the SIBI group. We did not stay an extremely long time at the Taj Mahal, but we saw it and took the pictures. Caleb and I had also observed it from the fort and from across the river. It was nice not to be “in charge” of the trip, even if it was just for the rest of the day. Princeton graciously directed us to a delicious Indian restaurant. The SIBI group generously paid for my meal and Caleb’s. Best of all, we enjoyed wonderful company on the ride back to Delhi. If any of the SIBI party were missing youthful companionship or conversation, Caleb made sure they had their fill on the bus. Princeton had family engagements for the 31st, and the SIBI group had a red-eye flight back to Texas on the 31st as well. I decided to head on up to Kathmandu on a short hop the same day. We only spent one night in Delhi, but I am glad we went. It took a few hours to get back to Delhi from Agra, even though the distance seemed like we should have covered it in half that. As we rolled back into Delhi, we passed modern high rises, and modern looking, if still congested highways. We stayed in a more upscale part of town. Princeton told me that Indian cities “had everything,” from the richest of the rich, to the poorest of the poor. Amritsar is an industrial city. I never saw anything that looked remotely like a middle class neighborhood there. This brief glimpse of Delhi helped me understand that socioeconomically, India isn’t all like what we witnessed in Amritsar. It is all a chaotic, jam-packed place, but it isn’t all dirt streets and piles of garbage surrounding magnificent temples and mausoleums. When I return to India, I would like to see more of its diversity.