Fort Agra and the Taj Mahal

On the way to Fort Agra, our guide stopped the bus in a very unlikely looking spot and announced that we would be visiting a wholesale vegetable market. 

Most Indian families do not have refrigerators. Even middle class homes can't depend on the electrical grid to provide current all of the time, so refrigerated items could go bad in a power failure. People buy fresh every day, usually from vendors with push carts who come through the streets. 

The market appears early every morning when farmers bring their produce in from the country. Vendors and other bulk buyers buy for the day, then the entire market disappears by 9 a.m. or so until the next day.

When we went through an opening in the wall, we discovered the market was far larger, and far more crowded and chaotic, than it appeared on the outside. Hundreds of farmers had set up in small, thatch-covered stalls or tents. One was surrounded by huge bags of potatoes, and other by piles of horse radish, yet another by huge baskets of cauliflower, and so on. 

Others were pushing through with motorcycles, bikes, push carts, rickshaws, tuk-tuks or just with large loads on their heads. The occasional holy cow, looking for a free breakfast among the stalls, added to the chaos (and made it imperative to watch one's step). 

Tourists do not come here often, and we were definitely the objects of some attention. One man shouted at us in Hindi, and our guide translated: "You are supposed to be at the Taj Mahal! What are you doing here?" We walked around for some time, the guide pointing out some of the more exotic items and showing us how ancient balance scales are used to measure out purchases by the kilo. 

We were almost run over by an Indian Army truck loading up bulk food for the mess hall. Our guide bought a kilo of "mud apples" for us to try. The inside looks dark and is rather soft, but tastes a bit more like an apricot than an apple.

Mud Apples

We continued on to Fort Agra. This is a huge area enclosed by an impressive moat and red sandstone wall that is still in use by the Indian Army as a base. However, the palace section, constructed in the 15th century, is a small segment open to tourists. 

The Mughal kings who lived here had it pretty good. The king who built the Taj for the love of his life shared this intimate little abode with her, his other two wives, and more than 250 concubines!

He also lived out the final years of his life here under house arrest. After completing the Taj Mahal, one of his sons rebelled, usurped the throne from his father, killed his own brothers to secure his claim, and had his father locked up so that he could not spend any more of the family fortune on crazy building projects. 

He died here, with the Taj in the distance his last vista, and was later buried next to his queen. Given the opulence of the place, it's difficult to feel too sorry for him.

Another thing that is striking is the extent to which even royalty in this climate live outdoors. Yes, these were fancy digs, but most of the area was devoted to open courtyards, very much like the home of the much more humble family we visited yesterday.

Guardians of the Agra Fort

After completing our tour of the fort, we continued on to what, for many, would be the high point of the trip: the Taj Mahal. "Taj" means "crown," and "Mahal" means "palace," but this was never a palace. It was built from the start as a mausoleum for a queen (she is a great story, but you can google it). 

There are millions of photos of this place, but none of them do it justice. For one thing, the central structure is part of a much larger complex -- including mosque, pavilion, entrance gate, walled garden and work areas -- that is much too large to fit into any given picture. For another, the photos can't convey the scale of the place. It is all much larger than I had imagined it. 

Our photos will be especially challenged by the morning fog, which refused to burn off. In fact, it grew denser, and we were rained on for a short time -- the only rain of the trip. But if photos can't do it justice, neither can my words, so I'll let it go at that.

Although our tour director, Sujay, is extremely knowledgeable and a gifted lecturer, regulations in many places require locally licensed guides. Most of these have been quite good, and the tall, rather striking, and obviously well-heeled woman, Annu, who guided us in Agra was no exception. 

However, she made a big pitch at the end of the tour of the Taj about the artisans who had been brought to Agra 400 years ago to build the great monument, and how most, after 22 years of living here to work on the project, came to think of Agra as home. She explained that their descendants continue to practice the ancient craft, and that we had the opportunity to see them at work. 

She took us to a marble factory that had all of the trappings of the typical silk rug show. The presentation was interesting, the massala chai tea was good, but the sales pitch was hard sell. She remained at the shop with us the entire time. Many of the marble items were beautiful, but pricey. Clearly this was a kickback trap. However we, unlike many others in the group, managed to escape without making a purchase.

Sujay had told us about Indian McDonald's and their need to sell a mostly vegetarian menu in Hindu India. To prove it, he bought us lunch consisting of "McAloo Tikki Burgers." No beef, but actually not terrible.

We returned for dinner at the hotel, which was quite good. Sujay has learned that we, and one other couple, are more adventurous when it comes to sampling authentic quisine. He ordered for us a special hot dal (sort of a lentil soup, eaten with rice or naan bread) and also taught us how to turn a bowl of plain yogurt into a tasty raita with the right combination of fruits, nuts, and spices.

Abhaneri Step Well

Breakfast was good and abundant. After it was over, our guide asked the waiters to help us understand traditional dhoti garment and turban worn by Indian farmers (for the dhoti, think Gandhi), and the scarf/shawl worn by women in this area. They brought in long (like yards long) pieces of cloth to show us, then started dressing us all up. It was a little bit silly, but all in good fun.

After we'd taken far too many photos of each other in costume, we had a lesson from our guide and these same guys on the Indian national religion, the game of cricket. This is one of the few things the British left behind that Indians appreciate. Using a tennis ball, which is far safer than a real cricket ball, we all got a turn at bat. It was a sticky wicket.

Driving only a short distance from the OAT camp, we entered a town and parked near an obviously ancient Hindu temple. But we walked, not to the temple, but toward a larger, slightly less ancient looking building next to it. We walked in via a narrow door through an atrium of multiple arches in Mughal style, and out onto an open portico. But walking just a little further we could see that there was some sort of pool or lowered area which the portico surrounded. A few steps more and it became clear that the pool was actually a huge inverted pyramid cut deep into the ground, with a crisscrossing pattern of steps going down on all sides.

This enormous step well fills during the monsoon. Then, as the water level goes down, people can climb lower and lower, to a depth of 75 feet or more, to reach the water level. The king who constructed it also included a multi-level summer palace for himself and his queen(s) that would provide a cool spot along the water's edge at most any water level. This well, built in the 10th century, was originally decorated with intricate Hindu carvings, most of which were defaced by invading Mughals several hundred years later. It is truly an amazing structure.

Brick kilns, seen everywhere, belch black smoke. They burn everything from straw to used tires. No pollution control.

We returned to the bus for the long drive to Agra. Our guide entertained (?) us with more information about the caste system, arranged marriages, problems with domestic abuse and honor killings, child trafficking, drug, and other social ills. Most of these are certainly not unique to India, but are exacerbated by poverty and caste. The lunch stop exposed us to some new dishes, some good, and some (like French fries) clearly trying too hard to please tourists. Our guide turned the subjects of his talks to more positive topics, such as pointing out the differences between language, native dress, and culture between Rajasthan, the state in which we have been touring since landing in Jaipur, and Uttar Pradesh, the state into which we have now crossed.

A"nilgai" or "blue bull" antelope along the roadside -- one of the most commonly seen wild animals of central and northern India

We entered Agra, and went directly to the Moon Garden, which is directly across the river from the Taj Mahal. It is only from this side that one can see the entire Taj complex, complete with the red sandstone mosque and royal pavilion either side of the central dome. Despite the haze and the unfavorable position of the sun for photography, the site was breathtaking.

View of the Taj complex from the Mahtab-Bagh (Moon Garden) across the river.

After checking into our large and rather plush hotel, we had the evening free. For exercise, we walked the spacious hotel grounds, had a beer at the bar, and then went back to the room to do laundry and write this journal.