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Tagne 2001 |
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Dan's DiaryDay 43 - Thursday 9th August 2001
The alarm went off at 6:30am. I got up, dressed and packed. Come 7am Steve still wasn't ready so Jon and I decided to go down to the hotel lobby to meet the Eco-rep while Alan and Andy waited for Steve. They soon came down and the Eco guy took us outside into the already hot and humid air. We got into a waiting jeep, Andy, Alan and Jon in the middle and Steve and I in the back. The driver welcomed us as we pulled out of the hotel and hit the already busy roads. Cyclists, rickshaws, cars, buses and lorries were all doing battle for space on the road. We soon got into a traffic jam and before we knew it we were going nowhere fast. Our jeep driver tried to zoom up the inside and jump the queue but only succeeded in making up a few places. All the small school kids were being taken to school. I counted one auto rickshaw with at least a dozen school children wedged in or hanging on. The road ahead would clear as the lights changed and all the vehicles would surge forward only to stop again as the lights changed back again. At one such set of lights a small van failed to stop in time crashing into the back of our new jeep. Our driver jumped out and started remonstrating with the driver of the vehicle that had hit us. He talked to him in a heated voice but didn't get any reply. Our driver then opened his door and tried to drag him out to make him look at the two-inch gash he'd scrapped into the side of the new and previously spotless jeep. The vehicles behind started to ring out a chorus of horns as our vehicles were now blocking the road. Some other drivers even got out and told our driver to move out of the way. Feeling he was losing his battle our driver couldn't do much but get back in the jeep and reluctantly drive off, letting us know what he thought of the chap. We soon hit the main road, which was a dual carriageway and half empty, so we could get some speed up. A signpost showed Agra as 160km away - not that far had we been in England but on Indian roads this was a long way.
We stopped at the Maharaja Hotel for breakfast where I had a very nice cheese omelette and a coke. On the way out I went to the toilet. A man who stood by the entrance with a pile of serviettes in his hand showed me to the urinals. I was a bit worried of what he was up to but was could see he was just being friendly when he turned the tap on for me so I could wash my hands. He handed me a serviette so I could dry them and then held out his hand for a tip. I handed him my used serviette and walked back to the comfort of the air-conditioned jeep. Further along the dual carriage way we came to a small village. Dhabas populated the roadside. A row of lorries was parked at the side of the road, causing people pushing carts to be in the middle. We braked hard as we reached the slow moving traffic. A recipe for accidents I thought, you wouldn't see that in England. Parking on fast roads and people walking with carts or cycling with loads in the fast lane seemed perfectly all right in India. Our driver stopped by a stall and our Eco rep jumped out and bought us all some guavas.
Some thirty kilometres from Agra the road was blocked probably due to an accident. This seemed to be a fair assumption as road traffic accidents were common; less than a kilometre back down the road we had passed a goods lorry on its side in the ditch. Our driver turned the jeep around and headed back down the dual carriageway, traveling the wrong way in the fast lane. The driving down the wrong side of the road was bad enough but the speed we were going was frightening. I was quite glad to be in the back of the jeep and even happier when we found a place to cross over the dual carriage way onto the back roads. The side roads were nothing more than deeply rutted dirt tracks. We joined the convoy of tourist vehicles all taking the same diversion because of the blocked main road. Each vehicle weaved along the dirt road leaving a billowing plume of dust behind them. Fields containing crops lay on either side of the road. Mud huts, haystacks and the odd tree formed some sort of relief on the otherwise flat and featureless expanse. Women carried bundles of grass on their heads. Every so often we would go drive through a small primitive village. People came out of the wooden huts and watched in amazement the number of vehicles going past. We ended up following the vehicle in front the wrong way, down by a canal. The car in front soon stopped as the road fell away in front of him, not wanting to risk getting stuck in his car. Our driver got out to remonstrate. By now half a dozen other vehicles had followed us and were also stuck behind. Eventually the car in front went for it, giving our driver the room to do a U-turn in the undergrowth where the road fell away. Our driver then continued on a cross-country route, leaving all the other vehicles to sort out between themselves what they were going to do. We rejoined the track and headed over the bridge that spanned the canal. With a clear road ahead our driver stepped on the gas, which didn't combine well with the potholes and bumpy roads. Pigs and buffalo were roaming the fields and streets while oxen bathed in mud pools in the corner of a few fields. We passed a chap on his bicycle who was obviously competing for the "see how much you can carry on your bike" award. He had a ten-foot-long tube of lead piping, several bundles of grass and some sheets of metal. A bit further down the narrow single-track road, after managing to squeeze past him, a buffalo towing a huge trailer full of junk held us up. In the villages the roads were often cobbled. The jeep lurched and bounced around as the wheels hit protruding bricks or fell into the many potholes or ruts. The low ceiling and the window played tennis with my head, bashing it backwards and forwards with every lurch.
We soon approached the main road and were back into auto-rickshaw land. Here the rickshaws were black again but much larger, often having both forward and reverse facing seats in the back. We were a little over 20km further down the road from our turn-off point, but on the back roads we had covered 65km. The roads were teeming with vehicles of all different shapes and sizes. We drove through a town and back out onto quieter streets before entering a small village. It looked no different to the others we'd driven through. Small shops stood by the side of the road, people repaired bikes in sheds, other people sat at street tables drinking tea. Before we got to the centre of the village the jeep pulled off the road and entered a large car park which was mostly empty. Before the jeep had stopped moving some guys had the doors open and were trying to sell us everything from postcards and ornaments to chess sets and bracelets. Our Eco rep ushered us into an electric buggy and we headed off down the street to the Taj Mahal. The Eco rep explained to us how he was not allowed to talk to us inside because the official guides would cause trouble. On arrival at the ticket office our Eco-rep bought his ticket for 29Rs and went in. The five of us took ages in finding money, and sorting out the purchase of tickets. We reluctantly handed over the extortionate 450Rs entrance fee and 550Rs tax per person, only just having enough money for all of us to get in. Each having a ticket in hand we walked on into a red sandstone building. A large number of security officials ensured no one took any food, matches or knives in. Jon had his bag searched so we waited for him, perhaps for something exciting to happen but nothing did. They let Jon go and we continued through the entrance archway and into a large courtyard with beautifully patterned gardens. We walked into the centre of the yard where lots of paths met. Here we turned right and the path took us into another red sandstone archway. Here there were more security officers who searched us again. This time it was Andy we were waiting for, as he couldn't find his ticket. Through the archway on the other side of the red building we saw our first glimpse of the Taj Mahal.
Andy soon caught us up and we exited the red building onto a raised patio. The Taj Mahal stood there, right in front of us, at the far end of some beautifully looked after gardens, its white rock reflecting in the pools that ran the length of the garden. We stood there in the hot, sticky heat for a few minutes just to take it all in and take a few snapshots. The sweat ran down my face even while standing still. It was 38C, with no shade in sight. We walked along metal walkways, designed to protect the grass, towards the Taj Mahal. At the foot of the building we found that we had to take our shoes and socks off if we wanted to go inside. Andy and Steve opted to sit under a tree in the shade and look after our boots so we could go in. Cameras were also left with Andy and Steve because photography inside is banned. We hopped quickly over the scorching paving slabs, sticking to the white ones as they didn't burn as much as the red ones. Some steps took us up to the broad balcony that runs all the way around the central building and connects the four towers, one on each corner with the central showpiece. The white marble glistened in the mid-day sun. It was just after 1pm when we entered the central building. The walls were picturesque with hand-carved marble flowers covering every inch of the wall. Semi-precious stones had been inserted into the marble to create patterns. In the centre of the building, behind a 6ft high carved marble screen, were two tombs. A small tomb lay in the centre and was that of the wife, for whom the Taj Mahal was built. Off to one side lay the large tomb of the man who had the Taj Mahal built for his wifes body. This was added at a later date and destroys the symmetry to which the building design followed so rigidly. Outside a mosque was built on one side of the Taj Mahal. To keep the symmetry an identical building was built on the other side of the Taj Mahal, but this is not a mosque because it doesn't face east. A man took a photo of the tombs and immediately had his camera taken from him and was escorted from the building. We headed back outside and met the Eco-rep on our way back to Andy and Steve. Steve wasn't ready so Jon and I walked back around the outside of the Taj Mahal and took some photos. A large river was on the far side of the Taj Mahal and a kilometre or so up stream, the Agra Fort could be seen on its shores. We tiptoed back across the hot stones and sat in what was supposed to be the shade of a tree while Andy and Steve went for their look around. We managed to disturb a whole load of ants so we were soon forced away from what little shade there was. When Andy and Steve returned we went for a look around the directionally challenged mosque-lookalike.
Come 3:30pm we were ready to leave so we wandered back through the gardens, stopping half way to take some cheesy tourist snaps on the specially raised platform around some fountains. Outside the main gate touts again immediately surrounded us. The Eco-rep soon found us and led us into a small roadside shop where soft drinks were purchased - in cans: quite a novelty for India. We caught a buggy back to the car park and then the jeep driver took us to a back-street restaurant for lunch. I had cheese and spinach with rice and naan and many cokes. I was quite content sitting inside next to the cool fans but soon after lunch the call came to return to the jeep. Setting off was always bad because it took time for the air conditioning to lower the temperature. We decided to go to the Agra Fort as admission was included on our ticket for the Taj Mahal. On the way there the jeep driver stopped and let Jon jump out and take a photo of the back of the Taj Mahal with the river in front of it. Our driver pulled up right outside the main gateway to the Fort. We jumped out with the Eco rep and walked on over the bridge soon getting ambushed by more sellers. We walked in the gate and up to the main entrance when someone stopped us. They informed us we had to buy another ticket for 400Rs each, it was only the tax that we didn't have to pay again. Not wanting to pay and not having enough money anyway, we turned around and went back to the jeep. The driver took us to a carpet factory where Alan, Jon and Andy went for a look around. They soon returned, for the 300Rs they had left wasn't enough to buy anything.
We hit the road again at 5:45pm and decided to return to Delhi. We joined the mass of traffic on the busy roads. Three motorbikes were following closely when a hold up caused us to brake suddenly. Screeching could be heard from the motorbikes, as the two on either side swerved to avoid crashing into us. The bike in the middle, with two girls on, couldn't react in time and they ran into the back of us. Our driver jumped out to check the damage. There wasn't much, so after checking that the girls were all right we continued on our way (as did the girls on their bike, a little further behind!). We stopped by the roadside while our rep went and got some bottled water for us. Just as he got back in the heavens opened and before long large puddles filled the road. Life went on with no-one running for shelter: walkers, cyclists and moped riders all continued as if it wasn't raining. No miserable faces, no bad feelings, no cursing the weather, because they know they need rain to survive. As darkness fell so the beeping of horns became less frequent as they were replaced with the flashing of lights. The roads are lethal during the day but at night they are twice as bad. You have cyclists pedalling here, there and everywhere, even down the wrong side of dual carriageways with no lights on. We passed a lorry on its side and an overturned car in the ditch by the side of the road. Some cars and lorries drove without their lights on, even though there were no street lights, and we passed two camels towing gigantic trailers of fodder, all unlit. All this with cars doing 70mph in the fast lane. It is no wonder accidents happen. Several suicidal cyclists tried to cross the carriageway in front of us, causing us to brake severely. We stopped again at the same motel to have a snack. I ate an egg sandwich with a coke as we were short on cash. The lights in the hotel went out while we were waiting for our food: apparently these power failures are common. A few minutes later they came back on. Back on the road again we reached the suburbs of Delhi. Our driver got frustrated with other vehicles not knowing where they were going and lorries hogging the fast lane. Eventually we reached The Park hotel at 10pm. We thanked the Eco rep and the driver before heading for our rooms to watch telly and sleep.
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© Copyright Steve Jolly 2001. |
