Agra Fort

Tuesday 8th April

- Agra Fort
- Jama Masjid
- Kinari Bazaar

we both got a lot of sleep, but Phil awoke clearly unwell. our plans to take in Agra Fort today looked a little shaky, while the Colonel asked to be kept informed of developments, offering support, advice and even some medicines.

Colonel Lamba's rank is not an affectation. compulsorily retired from the Indian Army at the age of 52, he has since been working hard on his guest house. this exemplifies the Sikh approach to life, as he explained to us; that it is everyone's duty to work hard for the benefit of others (one of the reasons he told us that Sikhs never give to beggars); offer hospitality to all; and that God is around is in everything that we do. commendable views on life. the Sikh greeting 'Sat sri akal,' like 'hello,' has many different meanings, but somewhat more elevated - 'God is truth' being one of them. he runs a well-drilled and very welcoming residence.

after a simple breakfast of bananas and scrambled eggs, Edd was almost back to full power, with Philippa beginning to improve. an hour or so's extra sleep and noticeably perkier, she decided to give it a go.

en route

melons!

Philippa (hat and white shirt) looks up at another set of major battlements.

Agra Fort, like many of India's monuments, is simply open from dawn to dusk. the long time seat of the Mughal empire, its surely impenetrable fortifications and solid red sandstone ramparts hide an array of white marble palaces, mosques and other structures. unlike at many of India's prestigious sites, the British did undertake a lot of restoration work on the Fort, and it does stand out from many of the sites that we have so far seen. it also offers many a tantalising long distance glimpse of the Taj Mahal along the almost dry River Yamuna, building expectations of tomorrow's planned day.

tomorrow's sights today!

the touts and sellers of tat outside its entrance were the most persistent that we have so far encountered, but nowhere near the levels we had expected - perhaps that was to come. a series of three entrances looms down imperiously on any meek visitor, each one set at right angles to the others to make attack more difficult. this assumes that you had already manage to span the dry mat and scale its two sets of castellated battlements.


we explored the fine site for almost three hours, happily darting through its interlinking marvels free of tour guide shackles. it's a truly wonderful complex, bursting with halls of polished stucco pillars, white marble mosques and palaces, ornate red sandstone courtyards and boasting a hypercaust system and a water network that kept everything cool in Agra's fierce heat, the workings of which remain undeciphered.






every wall had at least one section dedicated to pietre dure, the technique of using highly-polished, inlaid coloured stones to create what amounts to a painting.




the Eastern edge, which looks out over the Yamuna, provides many excellent views at distance of the Taj Mahal, although the ferocity of the sunlight often makes it virtually disappear from this distance in the haze. at other times, optical tricks make it appear to have moved closer along the riverbank. we behaved like proper tourists and had our photos taken on the black slate throne overlooking the mausoleum, while - opposite - Philippa sat in regal repose on the other, white marble throne.


if you turn your head left rather than right , instead of the Taj you get factory chimneys and grim industrial sprawl. Agra has these wonders for the eyes, yet its famously corrupt government has not done its best to protect them. it's such a spread out place that it was a real surprise to discover that 11 million people manage to live here. on reflection, many of them appear to be living in the lean-to communities you pass on the train.

such destitution is a far cry from the majesty of Shah Jahan, the ruler during the construction of the first of the Fort's palaces and buildings. it was his peacock throne, inlaid with precious stones, that we had seen at Lal Qila, although it had moved there with him when he relocated, as the Mughals tended to do when military campaigns demanded. its original location, in the Diwan-i-Am hall of public audience, must surely have been more impressive; a spacious courtyard and beautiful gardens surrounding a mighty marble hall, supported by a forest of numerous, graceful white pillars.

in the heat, this guy has a good idea

visually full, we took a cycle rickshaw the short journey to the Kinari Bazaar area to get a look at the Jama Masjid mosque. its three sandstone onion domes have highly distinctive zigzagging marble patterns, we now know to be better viewed at a distance than from within. our journey there was slow and at times painful to watch; Edd's size and a gradual gradient making the rickshaw-wallah have to work incredibly hard. once inside the Jama Masjid, it was clear that the ravages of time and bureaucratic neglect had not been kind to the mosque, but prayers were underway and it was not appropriate to go any further in.

nevertheless, enjoyment was to be had winding through the bazaar itself, a section of the city far more like the older parts of Delhi than Agra's splayed out profile, with shops and food sellers and every type of vehicle scrambling for any space vacated by actual people, notwithstanding the fact that one of them was, alarmingly, moving about on all fours.

in the Kinari Bazaar

perhaps this accounts for all of the powercuts?

home by auto-rickshaw, we spent the afternoon resting (in Phil's case), and being taught basic Hindi phrases by one of the Guest House's affiliated taxi drivers, Arif (in Edd's case). we looked at options for the next two days and pencilled in the 'Baby Taj' after its better known, larger namesake, considering the abandoned city of Fatehpur Sikri for our final morning. Colonel Lamba agree to let us rest on Thursday pm and check out later for a reasonable sum, which meant an easier and much more comfortable pre-train afternoon. a very early start for the Taj Mahal meant a correspondingly early bedtime, but the day's heat and all of its stunning sighted to process made us tired and more than willing to give it a try.

hello everyone!

edd & philippa