Taj Mahal

Last week, on Tuesday, Jules and I went to see the Taj Mahal with my friend Mary Beth and her friend Laura. It was just a week ago, but it's still hard to put the trip into perspective. For the sake of keeping these posts in some-what chronological order, I am going to try to collect my thoughts now and post lots of pictures. Check out the next couple of posts for more pictures!

Time was running out in Jules's trip and we had both wanted to see the Taj. I hadn't heard many good things about Delhi, and NO good things about Agra (where the Taj is located, about 200km outside of Delhi). So we decided to make a day trip of it all. What a day. At Dodie's suggestion, I kept a timeline of the day, to help me keep it all straight. Good thing I did. I thought it would be 12-13 hours of travel for ~ 3 hours in Agra. As it turns out, we travelled for 21 hours and spent 40 minutes at the Taj!!

5:00a Alarm! And it wasn't Luis, which is strange for me.
5:45a Luis wakes up, a good hour earlier than normal. I teased Diego that Luis didn't want to go a whole day without seeing his mom...
6:10a Out the door. Anwar whisked us to the domestic terminal. We were inside the airport by 6:35 (it can take Diego an hour to get to work some mornings) and we were sleepily sitting on our Kingfisher flight by 6:55a.
It seemed to be all business men on our flight. Diego later told me that the Delhi/Mumbai flight is the 7th busiest city pair in the world (think NY-DC, NY-Boston, etc.). I felt very odd being on a plane without Luis - I haven't travelled alone since he was born. I felt bad for Diego that Luis woke up so early, but I was also a little bit glad to see Luis. It would have been the first time I'd gone a whole day without seeing Luis (which made me more empathetic with Diego who went weeks without seeing Luis). Thinking about the day's journey, I tried to imagine an equivalent trip. It would be like flying from DC to Atlanta, to then get in the car to drive to Rock Hill for a long lunch, before getting back in the car to drive back to Atlanta to get on a plane and fly back to DC. Ooph. I was a bit tired already.
7:45a Our flight was delayed taking off. That was the bad news. The good news is that we were served omelets for breakfast in coach!
9:40 Landed in Delhi. (30 minutes behind schedule) We found Mary Beth & Laura (who had flown in on Go Airlines, a low-cost carrier that Diego won't allow me to fly). By the time everyone went to the bathroom, we gathered our things, found the driver and got everyone in the car, it was 10:20. It took 20 more minutes to get out of the airport. Now we're 60 minutes behind schedule.
1:30 Stopped at the "Half Way Point". This is not a joke. By now, Diego has already texted me twice to ask if we were there yet. Granted, I thought we would be there by 1p. We opted not to stop and eat lunch here, in the interest of time. Jules and I bought two 12-oz Ginger Ales for $6 and a small sleeve of Oreos for another $3.50. Jules, who has a long history of getting car sick, did very, very well (and did not get sick!).
3:20 Arrived in Agra. Yes, 4 hours, 40 minutes later. Almost 3 hours "behind schedule". Our driver called ahead and arranged for a guide to take us through the Taj Mahal. In an effort to cut down on the pollution that is choking the Taj, there are no vehicles allowed within 3 km of the Taj (except for Auto Rickshaws that run on clean natural gas). Our guide, Ravi, met us at the parking lot near the west gate. When we told him that we needed to catch a plane in Delhi at 9p, he said that we would have to leave Agra immediately (and even then, there was no guarantee of catching the plane). Slight panic came over us. I told our driver that we didn't travel for more than 9 hours to not even see the Taj. I suggested that we get in an auto rickshaw and discuss our options on the way. So we did. He took us to the South Gate, which he said, would have the shortest line for entry and get us in the fastest. I had my residency booklet to allow me in for the "Indian" price - I think 20 rupees. The ticket man refused to accept my residency book and charged me foreigner rate - Rs. 750 ($20). I was so irate at this point that I almost refused to go. But again, I didn't travel over 9 hours... Part of what you get with your entrance fee is a small bottle of water and foot covers (no shoes are allowed on/in the Taj). I told the ticket man I didn't want the shoe covers (it's just one more thing to generate trash in a country that is DROWNING in trash), I'd just take my shoes off and carry them. He insisted and I insisted and then he insisted more and I walked out. It wasn't a good start to my visit to the Taj. But once inside, I can say now with some distance and clarity, it was worth it. The Taj Mahal, in a way, to me, was like the Grand Canyon. It is beautiful and amazing and enormous when you see pictures. But then when you see it in person, you realize that a 2-d image will never do it justice.

In the interst of time, I decided to put my zoom lens on my camera and only shoot with that - I couldn't stomach the idea of losing precious minutes to trying to switch lens. Mostly, it was a good decision, as I have some great detail shots. The down side is that, within the compound, I couldn't get far enough back to get the entire Taj Mahal (and the pillars) in one shot. Oops.
Unfortunately, because of our time crunch, our guide Ravi didn't come in with us (though he waited sweetly outside and then accompanied us back to our car - and collected his full guide fee). He later said that in 40 minutes, he could not tell us "even one story" about the Taj. And since I didn't do a whole lot of reading up before we went, I don't know very much about the Taj - and therefore can't add much to the pictures. Jules shared a couple of interesting facts with me. One is that the four pillars on the outside were constructed so that they lean slightly to the outside. This was so that in case they fell over, they wouldn't fall ON the Taj. Another is that Shah Jahan, who commissioned the building, had the fingers (some say hands and some say arms up to elbow) cut off so that they couldn't build anything as beautiful again. The third is that while guides like to tell you that he spent his last years pining away after his favorite wife, Mamtaz Mahal, he in fact died of an overdose of opiates and aphrodisiac. Everyone mourns in their own way, I guess.
4:30p We left the Taj, met up with Ravi, got back to our car and were on the road back to Delhi by 4:50. Since it took us just over 4.5 hours to get from Delhi to Agra, and since airlines here close check-in 30 minutes prior to departure, I was not feeling at all confident about making our 9p flight to Mumbai. Diego checked for us and there were seats available on the 11p Go Air flight (that Mary Beth & Laura were on. Our driver, Gopal, drove as hard as any driver I’ve ever seen. The road from Agra to Delhi was a good road, two lanes in each direction, and the traffic wasn’t so bad. But with the setting sun and then the darkness, and the cars, it was a tough drive. He drove and he drove and he passed people and he drove.
8:30p Still outside of Delhi, I had Diego book us seats on Go Air.
9:08p Gopal pulled into the airport, so pleased with himself for having gotten us there before our 9:30 flight. He was, in fact, so pleased, that I didn’t have the heart to tell him that we had missed our flight. We thanked him profusely and tipped him generously and headed into the airport to wait. And to eat. We had skipped lunch all of us, and MB & Laura hadn’t been served breakfast on the plane. The buffet at the only airport restaurant was not good enough to merit any additional comment here. It gave us much needed calories. And they served alcohol, too; thank goodness.

Here, I lost track of the timing of things. The 11p flight became an 11:30p flight and ended up being a 12:15a flight. It was 2:00a when we touched down in Mumbai and it was 2:50 when Jules and I got home. In the Delhi airport, I wrote, Looking like this will be almost 18 hours of travel for 40 minutes at the Taj. I know it’s a world wonder and all – but I’m having some buyer’s remorse. It was a tough, tough day. Frustrating and disappointing and feeling like the ringleader (I was definitely the organizer), I also felt like I had everyone else’s expectations, and later, disappointments on my shoulder. And even though I knew with certainty that I had done the best I could, well, I still had a lot of doubts at the end of the day (which is part of the reason I've waited a week to blog about the day).

I should thank Anthony Rimicci for encouraging me to go. We talked about it when I was home over the Christmas holidays. I told him that I wasn’t planning on going – it’s so hard to get there and outside of the Taj, there isn’t much to see in Agra. Anthony asked if I ever planned to return to India after this trip and I told him no. He said, “You HAVE to go. You have to. How can you not go when you are so close?” I think he was right. Am I glad I did it? Yes. It’s been almost a week. Looking back, it WAS a tough day. And if I had to do it again, I would definitely make some changes. Either, I would take the train from Delhi to Agra. It’s consistently 2 hours and in our case, would have shaved 5 hours off our trip. Or, I’d spend the night in Agra and make the drive back on the 2nd day. Agra wasn’t much of a city, but I think it’d be fun to see the Taj both late afternoon and early morning. But all in all, the Taj Mahal was an amazing sight. And just like the Grand Canyon, I’m glad I’ve now seen it in person.