Advertisement
Published: September 16th 2005
Edit Blog Post
Killer Booties Man
To protect the marble inside the Taj, foreigners are given these little booties as one of the perks to the high entrance fee--Indians just go without shoes. Hopped a train on my birthday from Delhi—disgusting, dirty, marvelous Delhi—to see the great pearl of India in Agra, none other than the Taj Mahal. But with the glut of tourists that the Taj brings, so come the touts and the beggars and the salesmen. Basically everyone wants to be your friend; “No buy, only look”, and they are relentless. I’ve only been here for a short time, but I’m beginning to adapt to the constant wrangling, propositioning, and bargaining that goes along with being a Westerner in India. It’s quite difficult though, and you are really forced to be firm with the people who are constantly asking you for handouts. Really, no matter how hard I try, I still get ripped off consistently and sometimes legitimately. I’ll just say there is some definite price discrimination going on when an Indian pays only 40 Rupees (~$1.00) to tour the Taj, and a foreigner is obliged to pay 750 Rupees (~$17.00)! Yes, it’s ridiculous, but indeed we come from a very different society. You can truly feel that you are in the third world as you walk around a city and look at many of the people. It may be a shock
One of the locals
This guy makes his home at the Taj and he had lots of neighbors running around as well. Talk about prime real estate. to my reality and many times my sensibilities, but it is something you cannot understand until you experience it. There is a distinct division that is created by the various religions and the still prevalent caste system. For hundreds of years India has had prosperous peoples that have lived quite insulated and indifferent to the extreme poverty that seems to exist everywhere around them. I hate to make a blanket observations like this, but from what I can tell and have read this is how the system works here.
However, this system created one of the most impressive and beautiful architectural feats of the modern ages. Truly, upon entrance into the garden that contains the reflecting pool leading up to the Taj, I was awed, and awed in one of those speechless, mumbling ways. The white marble was painted against a bright blue backdrop that truly doesn’t look as if it could be real. The building is built to symbolize Emperor Shah Jehan’s love of his wife, Queen Mumtaz who died giving birth to their 14th child. The Emperor was so devasted that legend dictates that his hair was turned snow white overnight as if all the color had gone out of his world. Maybe that is the reason for the white, translucent appearance of the marble used on the Taj Mahal. Being in the presense of something as impressive and perfect as the Taj, which took 22 years to construct, you can still almost feel the grief in the air.
Because the Taj Mahal is also a tourist destination for Indians, you see a lot of people from smaller villages around India who are also just visiting Agra. For them, the sight of a Westerner is a unique and rare experience. And as I was standing out in front of the Taj, just admiring the building, I was approached by a group of about 15 vacationing men how were quite shy, but wanted to take a picture with myself and the Dutch girl that I’ve been traveling with for the past week or so. Now I don’t mean all together. It was one of those line up and take your turn with the foreigner type of things. I kinda felt like Santa Claus as they shook my hand and put their arm around like I was one of their real buds. It’s quite an interesting, gratifying, and strange feeling to be looked upon like that. However, I must admit, I do the same thing to some of the Indian people who are dressed in their amazing, brightly colored garb, their turbans, and their pajama-like attire. It’s the fascination we both enjoy as we come from such different worlds that makes the Indian experience that much more amazing.
However, I cannot say that I was terribly devastated to be leaving the polluted, dirty, and chaotic city of Agra. So on the 11th of September, we took our chances with a night bus to a small town called Pushkar; a small city known as being a pilgrimage site for Hindus because of its holy lake.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.095s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 56; dbt: 0.069s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb
Katie Grasham from Starbucks
non-member comment
Happy belated birthday Grant! We miss you!