It was pretty hot
sitting there (Evelyn notes, I had foolishly picked the side of the bus in
the sun, though for riding it was the better side, being nearest the side of
the road). In addition, hawkers kept trying to sell us postcards and other
items. We did buy a liter of water (at the price listed in fine print on
the side of the bottle rather than higher, which was initially asked) and
two wire puzzle bracelets for Rs5 each. The vendor was asking Rs8, but
willing to sell two for Rs10.
At about 10:30 AM we finally headed out. Most of the passengers were
Indians; there was a New Zealander we talked to a bit and three or four
other non-Indians. As the books indicated, everything was conducted in
English.
The Lonely Planet guide recommends the Tourist Guest House in Agra.
It also says that there are several other places claiming to be the Tourist
Guest House that aren't, including the Kapoor Tourist Guest House, which it
says is a real dive. No matter what they say, if you're opposite the
Central Methodist Church, you're at the Kapoor. Well, we passed the Kapoor
and it now has painted above its name Recommended by: Lonely Planet
Publications! We assume there are no laws about truth in advertising here.
On our way to Fatehpur Sikri, the bus was stopped at a checkpoint by
the police for a random traffic check. Someone said the driver's license
had expired, but he got back in and started driving again anyway. Maybe he
got a temporary one. Then again, maybe not.
The road to Fatehpur Sikri goes through countryside and a few small
villages, but you can still tell it's a road that tourists travel. There
was a man with a couple of camels with spots painted on them sitting by the
side of the road, and another with a bear on a leash. These are what are
known as photo ops. We had never thought there were bears in India, but
there one was. Mark was thinking it probably wanted to shake us down for
rupees. Evelyn said that the Lonely Planet guide says that the bear has
been trained to dance in the road blocking traffic until the driver pays the
bear's owner baksheesh. It was a scam so that he would be paid to remove
the bear from the road. What a country!
We arrived at Fatehpur Sikri, another World Heritage Site, at about
11:30 AM. It is described as a Moghul ghost city, but what remains is
closer to a place or a castle than a city. This was once Akbar's capital of
India. Akbar had wanted a son and went on a pilgrimage to see a holy man
for some encouragement. The holy man said that Akbar would indeed have a
son. When the pressure was off, Akbar found it much easier to sire a son.
In gratitude, he built a great city, Fatehpur Sikri, and made it his
capital. It is twenty-three miles (thirty-seven kilometers) west of Agra.
His palace is a big complex of buildings employing many different cultures
of the times. Akbar had buildings dedicated to each of what he saw as the
four major religions: Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. He took a
Hindu wife, a Muslim wife, and a Christian wife. Mark said, I suspect he
also had a Jewish wife, but rather than consummating the marriage, she
probably redecorated the palace ('I think we'll re-do the harem quarters in
mauve. Akbar, what do you think about window treatments?'). Akbar,
incidentally, tried to unify all four religions into a single religion that
would end all conflict over religion. It was a failure because he didn't
recognize the religious significance of doughnuts and coffee the way
Unitarians do. He started the city in 1571. It was the capital of India
from 1571 to 1586. Then it is thought that water problems caused the
capital to be abandoned. The capital is constructed mostly of sandstone
mostly in the Muslim-Indian style that featured things like geometrical
filigreed screens on the windows. The Diwani-Khas has four bell-shaped
towers on the roof at the four corners, each held up by four pillars. The
courtyard sports a huge backgammon board with squares big enough that the
emperor and empress used servant girls as pieces. There was a house for an
astrologer. And to keep the whole thing cool, an artificial lake was built.
And there were flocks of birds kept for communications also. In fact, it
was a tremendously expensive set-up so Akbar could live in comfort,
communicate with people, play backgammon with his wife--assuming she was
interested at the time. And for the emperor to have that much comfort, a
lot of people had to slave and live in less comfort. Mark says, If Akbar
really wanted to be impressed, he could visit the Leeper Palace in Old
Bridge, New Jersey. No artificial lake for the Leepers. They tell a dial
on the wall exactly what they want the temperature to be. They communicate
with their friends hundreds of miles away virtually instantly, and with
two-way communication at that. If Emperor Mark wakes up in the middle of
the night, he can tiptoe into the other room and have a servant who will
play him chess or backgammon. The servant is ten miles away but can play as
if he is in the same room. Fine actors will perform their most famous plays
for his entertainment without waking the Empress. Some of the actors may
already be dead but they will still perform for him his choice of a thousand
or so of his favorite plays. Or great musicians will play for him. They
stand ready to perform almost every opera Puccini ever wrote, or any of
Beethoven's symphonies, and that is only about one percent of what the
Emperor has there. So who's impressing whom, Akbar? God, technology's
great! Yeah, this is a recurrent in my trip logs, but so is the splendor of
ages past a recurrent theme in my tours. It is interesting but cannot match
the splendor of the present. What pre-1950 monarch lived any better than I
do?
By the way, if you're looking for a historical handle on when Akbar
ruled India, it was during the Elizabethan period. Sometimes it helps to
connect to things you know.
There is a large courtyard for what is effectively a mosque. You have
to leave your shoes outside. Evelyn wondered if she should stay out also
due to a theoretical restriction against blood, but you would expect that at
least one in five women would have to stay out for the same reason, and
since nobody else was staying out, it appeared that either the rule is sort
of ignored, or that the courtyard did not count as part of the mosque
itself. Again, more splendor and scale.
Of course, it was very hot. So we were extremely thirsty. Outside of
Fatehpur Sikri we got cold drinks for Rs8 and they were very good. Then we
got back on the bus for the ride back to Agra and the Taj Mahal.
One of our companions on the day tour pointed out that two of the
Indians on the tour must have been on their honeymoon. The woman was
dressed in bright green trimmed in a sort of silver tinsel. This was
apparently wedding clothing.
The bus stopped very near the Taj at the Taj Kheema Hotel for a quick
lunch. We could see the dome above the trees. We found out that masaladar
is not so useful a word. Mark ordered a vegetable curry masaladar and they
added an order of dhal masala (masala dhal?). There were two power failures
during lunch.
One reason to take a city tour like this when traveling on your own is
that it is an opportunity to meet other people and hear other voices. One
reason *not* to is that you're almost always sitting around after each stop
waiting for the late-comers. We weren't sure when the return train to Delhi
was, so we weren't sure how much time we had left for the Fort and the Taj.
Evelyn particularly started to worry when we did the Taj next, as she was
afraid they were skipping the Fort altogether for lack of time.
Getting into the Taj was a bit of a mess. They do not allow food,
transistor radios, etc. We figured that they probably did not allow palmtop
computers either. Generally anything new not specifically allowed you can
assume is prohibited. We are sure there is no rule saying that computers
are prohibited, but we would be willing to bet if the palmtop came into
question, that would be how the rules were interpreted. Evelyn was checking
her whole backpack, so Mark gave her the palmtop. He watched as she went to
the checkroom and she just disappeared inside. The guide herded the rest of
the group into line to enter so Mark decided to hold a place for her. Still
she did not come out. Mark went through the line and was forced into the
grounds. Still no Evelyn. Four or five minutes later Evelyn came through
the gate. There were something like eight people in line ahead of her and
each had to fill out forms for what they were leaving.
The Taj Mahal is for most people the symbol of India. You enter
through a giant sandstone gate and can see the Taj at the end of a long
reflecting pool (except the water was a bit dirty so it didn't reflect very
well). Yes, it's beautiful, and yes, the stonework (pietra dura--inlaid
work) is marvelous, and, yes, the marble carving is very fine, but it has
all been given such a build-up that it can't help but have too big a
reputation to live up to. Mark Twain even talked about this in FOLLOWING
THE EQUATOR. Basically, we tend to take all the descriptions of things and
add them together, so if ten people say something is good, in our minds it
becomes great, and so on. Twain uses the example of Niagara Falls and says
that by the time people get there they expect a cataract miles high.
So while the Taj Mahal is beautiful and romantic and all that, it is
not the high point of our trip. So far that is Khajurao, though the general
ambiance of the cities may be even higher. Where else do livestock wander
the streets of metropolises of over a million people? (On the other hand,
Evelyn comments, New York City is worried about the pollution caused by the
few horse-drawn carriages it has, but compared to here, that's nothing. Of
course, here people collect the dung in baskets, form it into patties, slap
it on the walls to dry--all by hand-- and use it for fuel. I suspect New
Yorkers wouldn't go for that. But back to the Taj.)
The Taj Mahal itself is a beautiful building that we are sure the
reader can picture. What you may not realize is that part of the beauty is
enhanced by playing tricks with your eye. The minarets at the four corners
seem to stand perfectly parallel and very tall. They actually lean outward
just a few degrees for a more pleasing effect (and also so that in case of
earthquake they will fall away from the Taj rather than onto it). The walls
of the Taj lean outward also, and the Arabic writing on the Taj is larger at
the top than at the bottom. The result gives the appearance that the
building is perfectly regular when it is not. There are signs up that say
no tipping but that did not stop a would-be guide from latching on to us.
We tried to break away but could not. Our guide took us through the
building, showing us that the marble and the red stone used in floral
decorations was translucent. We don't know how that did any good since
there is not very much light that gets into the Taj. It seems like wasted
effort. It also had black marble from Belgium and white marble from Jaipur.
The building is, of course, a huge mausoleum that the Emperor Shah Jahan
built to memorialize his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. She may well have been an
extraordinary woman in life. We will probably never know. But the Taj was
not started until she died and it took 20,000 laborers twenty-two years to
complete, at a cost of 22,000,000 gold rupees. We don't know how much that
is in American. At the current exchange rates, Rs22,000,000 is about
US$700,000. It took so long that by the time it was complete, Mumtaz was a
very ordinary skeleton. There is a phony mausoleum on the floor where you
enter and a real mausoleum on the floor below. Perhaps the Emperor thought
this would fool grave robbers. Anyway, the Taj is one of the Seven Wonders
of the World. |
