The other stuff in Agra

---

When I woke up about 6AM and peered sleepily out of the bus window, I was surprised and gratified to see the word "Agra" on some of the shop signs. 10 minutes later, the journey was over. I took an auto to the exclusion zone near the Taj Mahal (an area inside of which vehicles with excessive exhaust emissions aren't allowed, in order to try to limit the amount of pollution that will lead to acid rain and contribute to marble cancer) then walked the remaining couple of hundred yards to my hotel.

I had chosen the hotel because of its proximity to the east gate of the Taj complex, as well as the fact that it had a resident German Shepherd called Tiger. Unfortunately the room itself was not so great, being rather cell-like and possessing a slightly odd smell and no power socket, but I figured I'd stay one night and then reconsider.

Since it was overcast and relatively cool, I decided to walk the couple of kilometres to Agra Fort. The red sandstone ramparts look similar to those of Lal Qila in Delhi, and the interior is a mix of styles due to the structure having been developed by successive generations of rulers, including some exquisite marble buildings constructed by Shah Jahan. It was possible to see the Taj Mahal in the distance, though the cloudy sky and air pollution didn't showcase it. The best views were from near the Musamman Burj, a two-storey pavilion from which it is said Shah Jahan had his last sighting of the Taj before he died.

From the fort, I strolled through the bazaars to the Jami Masjid mosque, and then headed north to a bridge across the Yamuna river. The so-called "Baby Taj", or Itmad-ud-Daulah, sits a short distance north of the bridge. It is the tomb of Emperor Jahangir's father-in-law, and was designed by Jahangir's favourite queen Nur Jahan. Its nickname isn't really appropriate, as it's topped by a pavilion rather than a dome, but it is made of marble and has some detailed inlay work so in that sense has things in common with the Taj (which it predates). Though I haven't seen the Taj itself yet up close, if the Baby Taj is considered inferior to it then the real thing is going to be something special. Hopefully some of my photos capture the delicacy and complexity of the work done on this smaller version.

From the Baby Taj I continued walking north and, in Pied Piper fashion, managed to acquire a retinue of young children, who wanted various items, from a pen to my watch to hard cash. I lost them when I entered the grounds of Chini-ka-Rauza, the mausoleum of Shah Jahan's prime minister, as the security guard refused to let them in. The prime minister had also been a Persian poet, and his mausoleum is Agra's sole Persian construction. The exterior still bears some of the colourful tiles (chini) that originally covered its entire surface, and the inside contains some wall paintings in fairly good condition, though the attendant will only show you these if you cross his palm with silver.

It was mid-afternoon by this point, so I caught a cycle rickshaw to the Taj Mahal (easier to aim for this than than my actual hotel), which ended in an argument as he insisted on dropping me at the car park that's several hundred metres west of the west gate to the Taj, despite me originally asking to be dropped at the east gate. Back at the hotel I was disappointed to discover that, on the one day when I didn't put any sunblock on my nose because the sky was so grey, I'm now glowing pink. Clearly even 4 months in the sun isn't enough for my nose to acclimatise.

I was hoping to get a good view of the Taj by night, so I went to one of the hotels with a rooftop terrace - unfortunately there is no illumination of the Taj at all, though I could dimly make out its hulking shape on the horizon. I then got drawn into a discussion about whether it was fair that the price of Diet Coke on the menu was 3 times the price of other soft drinks, in the wake of an argument that an Australian girl and her (slightly drunken) father had had with the owner. I said that, in the West, I was used to it being the same price, but the owner said that it really did cost him 3 times as much, which I suppose explains why both parties felt aggrieved. Frankly, I've seen so little Diet Coke in this country that I've been willing to pay a premium for it in order to avoid the sickly sweet gunk like Limca that has been the only other non-water alternative.

---

Photos

Internal luggage compartment of the bus
aka the aisle

First view of the Taj Mahal
From Agra Fort