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Published: February 17th 2011
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This was written some time in January 2009. ( See previous blog entry)
Finally we are in Agra! I made the somewhat stupid mistake of presuming the train ride was 5 hours. After some time our general class train carriage was full to the brim. Men were sitting on each others laps and on the luggage racks above, legs dangling. It sounds squalid but it was a merry atmosphere, popular songs were jovially sung and food and drinks shared. The man with a phd sitting opposite Orlando, took off his shoes and naturally placed his rather pongy feet atop Orlando's lap and encouraged him to do the same. With glassy yet resigned eyes he shared with us how his wife of an arranged marriage did not love him.
Although it was a generally friendly atmosphere I did get the feeling we were not entirely welcome and the fact that I was the only woman in amongst hundreds of men was disconcerting. I couldn't help feeling a little anxious and nervous. After ten hours we made the decision to disembark in a town called Lucknow. Lucknow pulsated with activity, once again we found ourselves the only westerners, finding a hotel
was difficult as owners were reluctant to give us a room. On reflection I fear we were ignorant to some religious or social etiquette. Apparently Lucknow is one of the fastest growing cities in India, a fact I could care less about. This introduction to India had fatigued me and I felt a nervous breakdown fast approaching. It was after midnight and I craved silence and space. Eventually finding a hotel room we collapsed. Traveling in India is comparative to a marathon with added obstacles.
We arrived in Agra the following evening after a relatively stress free bus ride. In Agra I discovered Banana Lhassi's. A banana smoothie made with yoghurt, this was to begin a 5 week love affair with this sweet concoction, the memory of which I hold more to dear to me than visiting the Taj Mahal. A quick note on the Taj, it was indeed our purpose for visiting Agra after all. It was majestic and graceful, an impressive piece of architecture, although I wasn't able to appreciate it fully as we shuffled in with all the hundreds of other western tourists and posed for photo's. We awoke at the crack of dawn 5.30 am
to be precise in an attempt to see the sun rise over the Taj. There was too much pollution to see the sun. Not that we would have seen the sun rise anyway due to the gates opening on Indian time. Indian time being a minimum half an hour late, although in our case it was an hour wait.
Orlando had to help push start the auto-rickshaw on the way to the bus station, an amusing sight as he has often been mistaken for an Indian rather than an Italian. Instead of taking us to the bus station as we had requested, our plump friend the auto rickshaw con artist took us to some side road makeshift bus station where he would earn a commission. Reluctantly we boarded a bus bound for Jaipur. I was soon after regretting the decision, half an hour after leaving Agra domestic bullshit bus station we had made it a single km, possibly less as they attempted to round up more passengers. I had hoped to make it to Jaipur before dark when every face just seems shiftier and the ride into town is torture as the freezing night air chills your bones.
We actually didn't crawl the streets of Agra for as long as I had expected and were on the highway within a tolerable amount of time. After a couple of hours my bladder kicked in, however in the bus drivers words, " NO TOILET"!
Eventually the bus came to a sudden stop beside the road and the passengers alighted to relieve themselves. My relief at having stopped soon turned to dismay at the realization there was not even a filthy drop toilet to afford me some privacy. I did not have the luxury of being able to lift my Sari to pee, thus maintaing my modesty. I was wearing my lesbian cargo pants and even with Orlando holding my pashmina as a screen, I couldn't help feeling humiliated with my pants around my ankles, white ass on full display while all the men hung out the bus window staring.
more posts to come...........
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