WEDNESDAY 26 AUGUST
Rather a frustrating day and perhaps a bit anticlimactic. We got up at about 9.00 and make for the famous Diamond Cafe for breakfast. Armed with a copy of the Times of India (the teachers are still on strike) we sit down. Many nationalities are patronising the Cafe, nearly all youngish backpackers (no doubt all with their copies of the LP guide in an appropriate language).
I eat heartily and Jonty has buttered toast and coffee. Afterwards I phone Showkit Noor to arrange the final part of our visit. As the car he sends to collect us won't start, we take an autorickshaw, which is a bit full with three of us, plus two rucksacks and we have a hair-raising journey to the Noor's office. We discuss the programme. He is keen we should get to Jaipur as well as Agra, but we say no. So we agree a to a car ride round Delhi in the afternoon and a day trip to Agra tomorrow. We also arrange transport to the airport and to our accommodation at the Shaleen Hotel again.
We see the sights Delhi and finish up at the Red Fort where we book into the same son et lumiere show starting at 9pm tonight.
Below shows New Delhi and the Lutyens designed Raj path. Similar to the Champs Elysee. India Gate at one end and the Residency at the other.
Jonty at the India Gate
Back up towards the old Residency from the India Gate.
Humayun's tomb commissioned in 1558 World Heritage Site and precursor of the Taj Mahal.
Then back to the Hotel via some emporia and restaurants which the driver unsuccessfully tried to persuade us to patronise.
The driver arrives at the hotel to take us back to the Red Fort to see the son et lumiere show and he tries to break all records and many other things to get us there in time. However when we finally arrive, the show has been cancelled because of a technical fault. Many apologies and we get our money back. The driver then takes us to a night club we don't want to visit and finally we make it clear that we just want to go back to our hotel to eat. That sounds easy, but it is not. I order South Indian thali and Jonty has chicken masala and chapatis. After over half an hour the phone rings "No thali available". As the local restaurants are closed for a holiday, I have just to order two masalas. We'll see how long this takes. As I said, rather a frustrating day.
THURSDAY 27 AUGUST
Last full day in India. The taxi arrived as arranged at 8.00am and took us first to the Travel Agent's office. There was a problem. Apparently Showkit and his brothers had been beaten up the previous night, so there was no one with keys to the safe. Could I pay Rs700 for the petrol and taxes to get us to Agra, (I had already paid in full for the trip).I demand a receipt for the cash and we get going with Mr Islam, our driver. His English is very limited. The drive takes about 4.5 hours, including a stop he insists on, another commission job!
We all know about the Taj Mahal, it is, of course, the "Image of India". Frankly I expected to be a little disappointed after all the eulogies and hype.I also expect the pressure of salesmen and beggars that always seem to accompany these World Heritage Sites. It turns out that besides the rickshaws, the camel carts, postcard and tee-shirt sellers, it is reasonably hassle free.
And, yes - the Taj is really all it is billed up to be. A truly memorable experience and a very moving structure. Like us all, I have visited thousands but buildings around the world, but only a few really grip me emotionally. Durham Cathedral, Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Alhambra, the Taj Mahal, the Sistine Chapel and Suleymaniye the Great's Mosque in Istanbul come readily to mind.
No photography can really do this place justice. The interior is gloomy and disappointing at first (in contrast to the exterior) but as your eyes adjust to the light, some of the glory appears. However it is certainly the exterior which is the high point.
The East Gate to the Taj enclosure. This is the entrance that tourists will come through giving them the spectacular view which follows.
A reflective Taj
Taj Mahal duly experienced I ask Mr Islam to take us to Fatepur Sikri which isn't far off our route back to Delhi. This is the most magnificent example of a deserted city in the world. Built between 1570 and 1585 by Akbor, the Mughal Emperor, it was to be his capital. As suddenly as it was built, it was deserted. This is thought to have been due to water supply problems. As we are visiting quite late (Mr Islam got lost in Agra and cost us at least an hour's daylight) there is virtually nobody about. A truly empty city, apart from the snake which was being carried out by its tail, with blood spewing out of its mouth, but not dead. The attendant, who had removed it proceeded to put it on the floor and bash it on the head with his sandal until it was well and truly a late snake. We walked into the city following the bloody splashes. The first dark porch way we walk through is full of hissing noises so we tread through cautiously but quickly.
Outside the city itself was the Mosque, which still had few people around.
Inside the city truly was deserted and very evocative. You can see Jonty sitting on the Wise man's table.
Here is Nigel sitting in the Astrologer's chair, contemplating the future.
Back to the taxi and we are running behind time. We have to be up at 5.00am to go to the airport next day. Mr Islam starts getting difficult (my mistake really, I have not given him any bakshish yet). He wants to stop at his "uncle's shop" I persuade him to drive on. Next he wants to stop at a restaurant for us to eat. I insist we go back to Delhi. He goes into a silent huff. I ask him to stop at an "English wine shop". The only place we can buy some beer before entering a dry state, then too late for Delhi. "No stop, no stop"he says. Jonty asks why but he doesn't answer. Then the speed of the taxi dies down and down to the point where bikes can overtake us. Clearly we have a problem, at this rate we won't make our plane in six hours time, never mind eat, drink and sleep.
I invite him to stop for a chai where I have a face out with him. "What's the problem?" He says that the bald tyres and the wet road account for the slow progress. I know it's a battle of wills. He wants his bakshish and is sulking over the lack of commission. I strike a deal offering him a decent tip if he will drive properly and stop at the beer shop. We shake on it and he gets happier as do we.
About 1.ooam back to the Hotel but not before I have forked out another Rs300 for petrol. I demand repayment from the office before we sleep. From somewhere this eventually arrives.
All really a rather sour note to end the trip with. In retrospect I could have handled the situation better, however he did turn up again at 5.00am and got his bakshish and us to the airport on time. So goodbye India for now. Breakfast in Delhi, lunch in Abu Dhabi, tea in London and the White Horse Spalding for 9.00pm, about 23 hours later
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