Delhi Meet

---

Saw the Taj Mahal- absolutely amazing. It's rare that you can come upon a site that lives up to its hype but the Taj is one of those rare breeds. The photo's obligatory but really it can't produce the leveling you get when you see it in person. Magnificent. I heard one praise that calls it the greatest monument to love. If it were a monument to kicking puppies it would still drop you on your ass.

That was our last highlight in India. It goes to hell from there. Our last train ride we were threatened with jail time and our last taxi ride, forced to get the police involved. The train from Delhi to Agra is only 2 1/2 hrs so we didn't think it necessary to pay extra for the more comfortable assigned-seating car. We didn't know however that there isn't an admission cap on the lower class carriages so when you buy a ticket you just hope to find space on board. With our packs it was impossible to squeeze in and rather than lose the value of the ticket we got onto one of the higher-class cars and just stood in the corridor- didn't think it was too criminal as 5 other locals had done the same. But when security check came round and demanded 10x's the ticket value as a fine we were caught off guard. It was obvious that we were targeted as the unwitting foreigners as the other 5 people were left alone. So when we refused we were threatened with jail time(!). Now it seemed pretty absurd that you could be incarcerated for turnstyle-hopping the rail system but I ain't going to no 3rd world prison. So just when I thought to reach into my pocket the two officials at his side told him to back down and leave us alone. Thank god for weasely hesitation.

Then in Delhi we finally took part in the obligatory cab driver argument. It's a given that a street hawker or cabbie is going to charge you more than the everday person so you just have to accept that you're gonna get ripped off- the only thing you can do is try to minimize it. So when a ride that we had taken several times before, always costing 45 rupees (which I'm sure was already 20% above the going-rate) turned out to be 80, we put up a fuss. Slowly the argument turned into shouting and an audience grew where 5 bystanders took to our side and 2 to his (presumably cabbies). But when we still couldn't reach an agreement they said to go to the police. On the way to the station we had enough time to gather ourselves to realize that the overcharge was 35 rupees-- 83 cents! Though I can be stubborn with pride, nothing can convince me that filing a police report for 83 cents is reasonable. So when we told the cabbie to forget about it, he smiled and turned the car around to drop us off at our original destination. When we got out he said it would be another 25 rupees.

---