Part 3 - Agra
Friday Nov. 17, 2006
As we had to catch a 6:15am train to Agra, we were up at 4:15am. Actually we didn’t sleep much as our window happened to be near the back entrance of the hotel. I think there must have been a disco or something, because all night I heard them calling for cars. I don’t think I explained this before. Because so many people have drivers or hire drivers to stay around until they are ready to go home, the doormen have microphones attached to loudspeakers. You get the plate number of your driver’s car & when you are ready for him you give the doorman the number & they announce it over the loudspeaker. It is really loud because the driver’s area is a good ways away from the door. John said this is a common practice at all hotels & big restaurants. So all night long they loudspeaker was calling taxis. The last time I had checked the clock when I heard the numbers was 3:30am. I was not happy!!
Pradeep met us with a taxi & driver at 5am. For the first time the streets were fairly empty & there was very little need for honking – what a relief. I did notice that the driver went through every single red light we came to. I was told later that during off hours you don’t need to follow the traffic rules (as if they do during on hours). We got to the station by 5:45 & there were people all over. People were sleeping on the sidewalk & all through the station. I felt like I was in a movie. The level of poverty evident here was really too much to even make you feel badly. It was totally surreal, like an out of body experience. I really felt numb, like an observer, watching it on video. Of course the beggars that wouldn’t leave us alone were pretty real, but I had been told ahead of time to NEVER look at them & totally ignore them & eventually they will go away. I’m telling you it takes great discipline to ignore them & not look, but it does work. Pradeep located the platform we needed to be on & stayed with us until the train came. It was on time & we had assigned seats in a first class car. This is India first class which means we got seats & didn’t have to be in the cattle car with 500 other people. Our car was mostly Westerners & although old, the seats were comfortable & there was plenty of leg room. We were served food which included a bowl of corn flakes with hot milk, an omelet that was pretty good, bread & tea or coffee & juice. Not bad.
We left about on time. It was just stating to get light as we pulled out of the station. I was in the window seat & I noticed many people along the side of the tracks. Many appeared to be squatting (by many I mean I could see probably 10 at any time as we went along). I pointed this out to John & he looked & said, “maybe they are saying morning prayer or something like that.” I said that I doubted morning prayer involved having their pants around their ankles & wiping their crotches with their hands & water. John took a closer look & agreed with me. This scene went on until we got out of the city. The men faced the train & women faced away from the train. We found out later that these are immigrant workers who were just getting up to work & live in places that have no toilets. The train track is a common toileting area for these people. Nobody we mentioned this to seemed very surprised except of course other Westerners. “Incredible India” We also saw many tent villages as we left the city & people just sleeping on a blanket on the ground all over the place.
As we into the countryside it was mostly farm land. I noticed huts made of hay in the fields. These are for storing the harvest & tools. There were a few fields that had tractors in them which looked very old. Most towns we passed appeared not to have any cars in them, mostly there were oxen or horses pulling wagons. I noticed some monkeys climbing on trees & walls. The landscape was very flat & empty. The sky was hazy & there was a mist across the land. There were very few trees & the ones I did see were small. For some reason it made me think of photos I’ve seen of the African savanna.
We arrived in Agra after a 3 ½ hours ride. As we got off the train there was a very loud drum beating & people shouting. We got onto the platform & there was a group of people gathered around with flags waving & the drum pounding. It turned out there was an important politician on the train & these were his supporters there to greet him. We left the station & happily saw someone holding a card with our name on it. Nice to have drivers & guides already arranged (Rajnee had done this for us along with getting the train tickets – this makes touring here 100% easier, I can’t even imagine trying to buy tickets or getting from the station to the hotel without help).
The main street of Agra is 4 lanes (officially) & is not nearly as busy as the Delhi streets. The streets are paved, but nothing else is, so it is very dusty. There were a lot more animals & bicycles on the streets here. Agra is a tourist town, so we were told it has all the modern things like McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, KFC (but surprisingly, no Starbucks). In your wildest imagination, Agra is far from modern, in fact nothing here looked new, although there were several buildings under construction, but nothing new finished. Mostly it looked like a dust town that had been ignored for several years.
We got to our hotel & were able to check in. We were booked at the Sheraton & it was an oasis. It was beautiful I am happy to say. It had fountains that worked & wonderful gardens & marble everywhere. AND the doormen were dressed like the Indian soldiers you see in the old movies right down to the curly toed shoes. There were so cute & nice, they saluted everyone. There was even a welcome sign in the front of that had our name on it (along with about 15 others, but it was fun to see our name up there). The room looked onto one of the gardens.
We headed back out with our guide & driver to go see another fort that is about 30 miles outside of Agra called Fatehpur Sikri. This being a Friday, the Taj-Mahal is closed (not good planning). One great thing about having a guide is that you get lots of information & can ask all of your dumb questions. This guy was really great. He said the reason cows are sacred is because they car so useful. They produce food (milk & other dairy products), fuel (from the dung), shelter (from the dung also – they use it for the walls), fertilizer (again that wonderful dung). I think there were some other things as well, but I can’t recall what they were.
Just the drive to this place was an experience of a lifetime. It took over an hour to get there & we had to go through the old part of Agra. This was just something I really can’t describe. There were every type of vehicle you could imagine on the road: wagons being pulled by horse, mule, oxen, & camel (no elephants this time), bicycles, bicycle rickshaws, motor rickshaws, mopeds, motorcycles cars, trucks, tractors, buses, people walking, cows (they are sacred so can go anywhere they like & they tend to like the streets). All of these vehicles were on the road jockeying for position & honking of making whatever sound they could to get ahead of the other vehicles. The guy on the bike didn’t mind cutting off a truck. We were stopped at one point because there were police in the intersection surrounded by people all yelling (we couldn’t figure out why). Right next to us a guy pulls on driving a bike rickshaw with 2 women in it. On the other side of him is a school bus. Suddenly the driver of the bus jumps out of the bus & grabs the rickshaw driver by the throat & pulls him into the air & is yelling at the top of his lungs. The women start yelling & another guy in the bus starts yelling. Again, a surreal moment. The guy being strangled obviously can’t yell. Finally the bus driver drops him & everyone keeps yelling. Our guide turns around to us & smiles & says “incredible India”. That is all the explanation he had or needed. We just couldn’t imagine what a guy in a bike rickshaw could do to a school bus that would upset the driver so much.
The streets in old Agra are much narrower & the traffic was ridiculously congested. Nobody voluntarily giving way for anyone else. You only proceed by pushing your way through the traffic. The shops were small & cluttered. People appeared to be living in the dirt. There were children walking around barefooted with trash all over. There were animals just wandering around like the cows, pigs, goats, dogs, mules. It was pretty much an overload of your sensibility going through this area. There is no way to describe it accurately. At this point I was thinking “I’m never going to be able to blog this. This just is beyond anything I’ve ever experienced in my life. This just HAS to be experienced to be believed.” So whatever I’ve just written about this doesn’t come close to the real thing by any stretch of the imagination. Anyone who’s been to India will say the same thing.
Once out of town it was again farmland. This is when we asked about the people toileting along side of the train in Delhi. The guide told us why they do that. I asked about the farm people & he said the farmers are too proud to do that, they don’t have toilets, but each village has a public toilet for all of the villagers to use. Being out of town I thought the driving would get better, but now the drivers were able to go faster & they don’t like to slow down. There were many trucks & farm vehicles on the road, so the driver was constantly passing. This was supposed to be a 2 lane road, but mostly the made it 4 lanes & usually 3 were going in the same direction. There were several times that I just buried my face into John’s arm as we did a blind pass of a truck. I’m glad to say there were not even any close calls, but it was unnerving to say the least.
The fort (which in India means the same thing as palace) took 14 years to build & was occupied & acted as the capital of India for only about 10 to 15 years. It was built by Akbar the Great (he built the Taj & Red Fort & many other buildings in India, which contributed to his demise). There were some political reasons that it was placed there & then politics had the capital moved. There is also a story that once it was built they realized there was no source of water near by, so it was abandoned. These buildings were also made of red sandstone, like the Red Fort in Delhi. This emperor had 3 wives & each one had a building built for her. This emperor was very good at keeping the different religious factions of India united. Each wife was of a different religion: Hindu, Muslim & Christian. Akbar thought it was so important for harmony among the people that he started a new religion that was meant to unite all the people. It didn’t really take on, but was a good idea. The fort was beautiful & the tour most interesting. It is well worth having a tour to get the most out of what you are seeing.
We left the fort & stopped at a restaurant on the way back to Agra. It was obviously there for the Western tourists. They had a buffet with some interesting items, but nothing very spicy. The guide had something different & it was filled with peppers & curry. We offered to pay for him, but he said he got his meal for free for bringing us there. That is how it’s done there as we soon learned. Our guide asked if we’d be interested in seeing how hand knotted rugs are made. We should have realized what he was up to, but we didn’t. Of course we said yes. Our guide turned us over to Bobby, the rug man. Bobby was extremely nice. The rug factory had a front area for display where a man was knotting a rug. Bobby explained in great detail how the process works & the man making the rug slowed down so we could see his technique. Then we were taken to the area where they dye the wool, then where they made the designs. I guess this place gets together all of the materials, then ships them out to a home where they produced the rug. Agra is well know for it’s cottage industry.
Then came the show room. Bobby very cleverly asked if we knew how to tell a real hand knotted rug from a fake. We didn’t know, so a huge rug came out & he showed us. We were brought drinks & offered a seat & the selling began. Before we knew it he was showing us rug after rug. He remained very nice & informative, but he was working hard to part us with our money. As he realized we were not going for the larger rugs he progressively had his men bring out smaller & smaller ones. I think we finally got down to one that was around $600. I had had enough by this time – they just don’t give up. I whispered to John, I’d rather spend $600 on a plane ticket somewhere than on a rug. I got up & left. John came out about 5 minutes later & said I finally told Bobby that we needed the $600 to fly our son over to visit us. Bobby didn’t have a comeback for that. They are hard sellers, but nice people. Our guide & driver were waiting. I’m thinking the guide might have gotten a commission had we spent some money.
Another thing Agra is famous for as marble & semi-precious stone inlay pieces. This is what is in the Taj-Mahal. John asked the guide how one can tell the difference between a real marble piece & a copy. Well, of course the guide had a friend who owns a factory that produces that very thing. Next stop – hard sell on marble inlay items. Outside the factory (they are really stores) were some men grinding down the stones & another man carving out the marble to place the stones into. They have a special natural adhesive that keeps the inlay in place. The owner said that most of his workers were at the Taj because Friday it is closed for repair work. His family is the only family that is allowed to work on the Taj as his ancestors were some of the artisans who did the work originally (according to him). The items were amazing. They had tables; large & small, vases, plates, bowls, coasters, animals (lots of elephants) – all marble with inlay stones. He had some samples of fake (soap stone) products, pretty obvious. The products were way more expensive then we’d imagined. Of course it all depended on how much inlay work was used, but we looked at an average sized vase that was $600 (he ended up coming down some, but not that much). The drink coasters were $150 for 6. There was a large table made of green marble that was amazing. They guy said if I could guess the price he’d give it to me. I should have had him write it down before I said anything. I guessed $5,225 & he said $5,500 – really close. We were tempted to get something, but just felt like we were getting ripped off (and it turns out we were according to Alok who is from Agra – he said the prices were about double what they realistically should have been asking). We walked out empty handed but disappointed from there too.
On the way back to the hotel we passed by the Red Fort of Agra. This was also built by Akbar & ironically, his son’s got upset with him for spending all of the state money on all of these buildings all over India, so they knocked him out of power. He was imprisoned in this fort for 13 years until he died. We could see the “apartment” where he was kept prisoner & it was very nice – looked much like the Taj-Mahal. And poor Akbar could see the Taj from his “prison” room. The sons fought & finally the 3rd oldest son won out & became emperor. He wasn’t very nice & quickly alienated the people – no more harmony. Leaving the Red Fort we were on a divided road & the driver just U turned & went down the wrong side of the road. We had to go around a bus that was coming straight at us. John said something like “WOW, now I’ve driven in lots of countries but this is the first time I’ve gone down the wrong side of a divided highway.” Our guide turned around, smiled & said, you guessed it “Incredible India”. Then he explained that there was a traffic jam if he’d continued going in the correct direction & after about ½ a mile we came to a round-about & got going the right way. Whew!!
The last stop was a souvenir type store owned by the guides good friend. They sold all sorts of things so we got a few goodies. My favorite thing was a bottle of jasmine oil that is supposedly pure enough to eat. It was in the spice section. He said I could also use it as a perfume. I love it & put a little dab on every day. We had a hard time getting out of this store too. Every time you even glanced at something the brought it out & 5 things like it. You want this? NO. Well then how about this? NO, nothing more! Ok, you like this? This color looks good on you, you should buy 5! NO. It gets really tiring. I was so glad when we finally got back to the hotel.
We went to the rooftop patio & watched the sunset. You could see the Taj-Mahal in the distance. I guess at sunset if conditions are good the Taj will look pink. It didn’t. The sky was very hazy. I did look very impressive even from this distance. We ate at the Tandoori restaurant at the hotel. They let you come into the kitchen & watch them cook. It was really fun. We got the sampler platter which consisted of several types of meat with different spices. All were fairly hot. They serve yogurt with most meals because it works very well to kill the heat in your mouth when something is too spicy. We ended up with India ice cream which is kind of crystalline. John likes it a lot, I was not that impressed. It’s a strange flavor, I can’t remember what it is.
After dinner we decided to get a taxi to get some antacid (dinner didn’t sit too well with John). The taxi driver happened to be the same one we had during the day. It didn’t take long to see a store that would definitely have what we wanted, but the driver didn’t stop. We pointed it out to him, but he pulled up in front of a leather good store instead. He said his friend owned it & would give us a very good price. We said we were not interested in leather goods & just wanted to go to the drug store. He then pulled up in front of a marble goods store & said the place we went to during the day was not good & this was owned by his friend & we could get a good deal. We said we only wanted to go to the drug store we’d seen back near the hotel. Next was a clothing store, again owned by his friend, again we could get good deal. These people are really relentless. We threatened to get out of the car & walk if he didn’t take us back to were we wanted to go. He finally did. When we got back to the hotel he wanted to charge us too much (luckily John knew the ropes). He explained how far he’d driven us & John said we didn’t ask him to do that, so he was just going to pay him for going to the drug store, not to all the other places. The guy acted mad, but then said to be sure to ask for him in the morning.
Another day in India – WOW!! More sensor overload.
