An Indulgence in India Tuesday 16th Jan 2018

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Today we left Hotel City Star and set off on our route round Rajasthan, the first destination is Agra. We are heading south east towards the satellite city of Noida which is a huge business and commercial centre. The express way we are driving on is part of the infrastructure, as is the metro which is under construction. The area is a mass of very high rise buildings all under construction. Jaspal  tells us that the area is unsafe so people don't live here, however Noida (for those of you who love acronyms stands for North of India Development Area) is a huge thriving city and very rich. With the funds it has in its coffers now (Rs 3500 crore) enough to run the entire city for 5 years without taxing its citizens at all. Sport City is located here along with the F1 racing track. 

The express way is a toll road all the way to Agra. This however does not make for safe or fast driving. There is absolutely no road discipline. All the heavy lorries travel in the outside lane of 2 leaving the hard shoulder and the inside lane available for undertaking, cows bikes, motorbikes etc. So the Delhi weave continues at a higher speed on this would be motorway. Add to this the fact that instead of going round towns, the road goes straight through the middle of then which encourages a frenzy of commercial and industrial activity on the road side. 

We arrived in time for lunch and met our guide for the visit to the Red Fort and Taj Mahal. His name is Shahzad Baig and is, as you would expect very knowledgeable. He is keen to help and takes the appropriate photos of us. He was also keen I should mention him in this blog. So if you are looking for a guide at Agra give the Prince a go. You can contact him at baig.guide@gmail.com He is, of course my uncle and I am on a 10% commission! 

The Agra Fort has to be one of the most protected structures that I have ever seen. One side was protected by the river Yamuna. The entire Fort has 20m high ear shaped walls but before you could even touch these there were 2 moats, the first, a dry one containing hungry tigers. The next moat was water filled but had the added bonus of being filled with crocodiles. The single gate had a drawer bridge as usual and very sturdy doors then a steep ramp with a 90° bend.  There was an arrangement whereby oil could be poured onto the ramp to make it slippery, then set on fire 🔥 if needs be. Phew! 

The Fort was originally built by Akbar in 1565 but its most famous resident was Shah Jahan. He of the Muntaz wife for whom the the little white monument across the river was built. Shah Jahan converted the fort into a magnificent Palace which was to become a gilded prison when his son Aurangzeb seized power in 1658 after murdering his way to the top. 

Here you can see his "retirement house" with the symmetrical mogul garden. Sorry the white marble has resulted in an overexposed shot. This garden seems to me to have parallels with the Elizabethan knot garden 

Here you can see some of the most beautiful internal decoration with precious and semi-precious stones inlaid into the marble. This is a skill that is still in action today as can be seen in the tourist workshops

I show this as it is the only remaining monument to a British official left in the Fort but I have no idea why. He died of illness during the First War of Indian Independence or what my history books would have called the Indian Mutiny.
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Vehicles are not allowed to approach the Taj Mahal so we have to park and then take a rickshaw for Rs 50 to the ticket office. The entry ticket is Rs 1000 about £12 which, for the most iconic building in the world I thought was very good value. Locals have to pay Rs 50 but with the high value ticket you don't have to queue. Taj Mahal means Crown Palace and I suppose most people know the story of,  but as you are reading this I better tell you again.                                                            

Firstly a couple of descriptions, Rudyard Kipling said it was "the embodiment of all things pure" and rather better the poet Tagore called it "a teardrop on the cheek of eternity". Now that is what I call poetry.
Built by Shah Jahan as a memorial to his wife Muntaz Mahal who died giving birth to her 14th child in 1631. The death of Muntaz left the emperor so heartbroken that his hair is said to have turned grey overnight. Below you can see the south gate through which most tourists arrive. Here we are standing at the centre point of the formal garden. The Taj itself is directly behind us.

The view below is a classic from the south gate and I've nearly eliminated the madding crowd,unless you look closely at the marble plinth that the building stands on.

The false tomb of Muntaz lies in the centre of the building. The false minarets are 40ms high and slope slightly away from the Taj. This is in the event of earthquakes, they will fall away from the building. Shades of Surfleet church! Out of the shot are mirror image buildings. Only the one to the left is a mosque as the other one faces in the wrong direction. The white marble was quarried in Rajasthan and is inlaid with precious and semi-precious stones, a technique called pietra dura. This is still a specialist skill of local artisans. The Taj itself took 8 years to build but the entire complex took 22 years.

This really is the classic picture, taken from the centre of the garden, like the first, only facing the other way round. This is where the Princess Diana bench is. She still seems to manage her publicity from beyond the grave.

A last shot of the south gate giving a better idea of the numbers of visitors attending. You come to this building with great expectations and you leave like Oliver Twist asking for more.