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Published: January 28th 2012
Mum - beautiful, Taj - crowned, Mahal - palace.
So, Mum Taj Mahal, beautiful crowned palace. Understand ?
But first, the train journey. Approx 600km overnight, 12 hours in an AC Tier 2 Sleeper Class, price of ticket, about 12 quid.
On this particular train, this was the best class available.
Ahem.
Beds are arranged in compartments of four ( two bunks ) down one side, and two lengthways down the other. Curtains separate you from the corridor.
So, how was the trip ?
Well, I'm glad you asked me that. It was . . . . interesting. We met some nice people, and we met some mice people. The nice people were two Chinese girls who were travelling in India for a couple of weeks and spoke very good English ( though only one was sleeping our compartment, the other was further down the train. The fourth person, an Indian gentleman, didn't join us until about midnight ). The mice people (mice really) were small and scruffy, with long hair. In fact, these were the scruffiest mice I have ever seen. I said to Moi perhaps they were hippy mice. When I first
saw them scuttle across the floor, I shouted “mice” and the two Chinese girls screamed, jumped up on the bunks, put their shoes back on and promptly went to bed. I was tempted to keep shouting mice just to see what happened, but didn't.
So, we bunked down for the night (both top bunks were ours). No sleep really, but restful listening to the clackety-clack of the train. Later, I could smell a strange odour and heard some small squeaking noises. Perhaps it was the hippy mice smoking ganja and breaking out into fits of mouse-hilarity. But no, it turned out to simply be the Indian gentlemen below me, breaking wind and gently snoring.
Wind forward 12 hours, 5am we arrive and are met at the station. A short while later, we are checked into a really nice hotel, shower and snooze. On waking, we could see the Taj Mahal from our window !! Fantastic.
Turns out the Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays ( the mosque there is still in use, and Friday is Islam’s Sunday ), so we were taken to a 16
th century abandoned city 25 km out of Agra. All in red sandstone,
this is an amazing place. Built by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1570, it was abandoned only 12 years later due to lack of water. He was very tolerant of other cultures and religions and so the place is influenced by Hindu, Islam and Christian design features. Of great interest to me was a red stone where convicted murderers would be executed by having their heads stamped on by an elephant.
Next day we visited the Taj Mahal. It is true. No picture can do it justice, you just have to come here to experience its beauty. What an amazing sight. You go up close and there are intricate carvings and semi-precious mosaics all over it. Inside ( no pictures inside please ) is the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal ( the third wife of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan ) which is even more intricately decorated. Beautiful floral designs made up of 100 semi precious stones inlaid into the white marble, about 3 inches across, adorn the whole thing. Each individual one took 50 days to complete and there’s loads of them. It took 22 years to build and involved over 20,000 workers. Apparently, Shah Jahan also wanted to build
an identical black one across the river for himself but died ( well actually, was overthrown and imprisoned by his own son for 8 years first ) before it was really started ( just the foundations remain ).
Spent some time sitting and soaking it up. Then on to see Agra red fort (interesting) and another monument (mini-Taj, also interesting) but nowhere near the beauty and majesty of the Taj itself. One last look from across the river then back to the hotel.
There’s lots of monkeys in Agra (simian and rhesus). At first it was a novelty, but you start to get rather passé about them after a while !!
Anyway, this is our last day in India. Tomorrow, we fly to Katmandu, Nepal. How to sum it all up ? Some poetry perhaps:
-o-
Oh Mother India,
Home to tea and rubber
Curried eggs and monkey’s legs
What are you to me ?
Oh Mother India,
Home to silk and flying carpets
Burning ghats and useful cow pats
What are you to me ?
It is almost as though
You are some strange third
world.
Where poverty thrives in the shadow of palaces
And unusual Gods have unusual phalluses
What are you to me ?
Oh Mother India,
Home to idli and gulab jamun
Diddly, widdly, fruit and salmon.
What are you to me ?
All these things and more.
Would I return ?
Yes, I would.
Idli
-o-
And so as the sun sets on the first leg of our intrepid journey, how would I summarize these first 10 days?
Moo cows.
(Cue Indian music, repeat and fade) Post script Worst joke of the trip so far:
When driving through one of the towns, we came across a herd of baby goats in the way. The driver peeped his horn, but they didn’t move out of the way. “It’s not surprising”, I said, “they’re only kids”.
Best quote of the trip so far:
When walking up to Buddha’s cave, both Moi and I were quite out of breath when we reached the top. We were talking about this later and saying we really needed to get fit. “Perhaps we should walk up more
hills”, I said. “Yes”, replied Moi, “Nepal, that should be hilly”.
Yes, I imagine Nepal will be a bit hilly.
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Sogyal Rincpohe
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Monkeys
Did the elephants also stamp on naughty monkeys? S