Agra-nd Day Out

Monday 7th April

- arrival and orientation in Agra

awakening at 5am, we blearily packed or lives back up in our bags and checked out of the Amax, waking the staff who were all sleeping in reception with the lights extinguished. swiftly and painlessly dealing with the paperwork, we walked the relatively short distance to New Delhi station, noting - even though traffic was sparse and quieter - that horns still occupied the key role in everyone's driving. the station seemed sleepy, still very busy but somehow on mute.


our train arrived and departed on time, with maximum efficiency. again, one was struck by the thought that India has broadband in countless locations, phones at virtually every second shop with per second billing and a relatively well-drilled train network, yet inadequate or no sewerage and non-existent health and safety.


contrasts thrust themselves forward again on the two hour journey to Agra. in that short time we were served as part of our ticket with tea and biscuits, newspapers and breakfast - this is also a business commuter train, by the look of the other passengers - all served up by chai-wallahs bedecked in fetching uniforms of a turban-like hat with a train down the back, detailed with yellow Hindu symbols. this included that for serenity as co-opted by the Nazis, the swastika. a wide material belt of similar pattern cinched a dress-length black shirt over white trousers - natty. almost no one spoke to them at all. in air-conditioned comfort, we raced past whole communities living on the platforms, tracks, sidings and edges of the railway system, visibly and quite literally scraping by, or having a poo by the tracks. when the hazy, smoggy pall of Delhi finally gave way to scrubby fields of mainly wheat and garbage, such communities still proliferated, and for the considerable majority of the journey. in the near distance, cows ambled across the main road, a man walked his camel along its edge and brightly dressed women could be seen working industriously in the fields.

Agra Cantonment station - one of the city's six - was the now familiar scene of innumerable cycle-and auto-rickshaw drivers and taxis, every third one clamouring for your custom. thank goodness we had someone picking us up from the richly named Colonel Lamba's Indian Home Stay - it's a far nicer way to navigate India's stations and something of a guilty pleasure. finding the guy with the now customary 'Mr Edward' sign, we drove through Agra's very widely spaced districts the 5k, to our new home, the driver cheerfully ignoring Philippa as if she did not exist and directing all conversation to me, the only other man in the car.

we had read good things about Colonel Lamba's online and, thus far, have not been disappointed. although slightly higher in cost than the Amax, Agra is a magnet for tourists, so in part we expected it. plus out went the noisy hotel, instead ushering in included breakfasts, home-cooked meals on request for cost and fine care and attention. you can even see the Taj Mahal - admittedly, at a distance - from the roof.

The first of many many.

and due to Agra's dispersed nature - so different from the raucous, piled on top of one another approach of Delhi - the Indian suburbia of our street is disturbed only by dogs and the distant call to prayer.


immediately extending our stay by an extra, third night to give ourselves more time, we set off by auto-rickshaw to prepare the next stage of our journey, to Jaipur, to enable us to relax. hotels proved problematic, managing only to pencil in a place at our 2nd best option, while the banks in Agra had decided to close for no apparent reason, with the ATMs only allowing withdrawals of 50 quid's worth at a time, necessitating multiple trips. we did at least get our train tickets for Thursday back at Agra Cantt. it was more of a struggle than at Delhi and a tad chaotic, but we did meet a nice British couple who were actually smiley. rather incongruously, the miraculous sight of a robust and healthy sounding Royal Enfield motorcycle pulling up was followed immediately by that of a man waving his handless arm in the air shouting "ATM! ATM!" at us in a gesture of some form of triumph.

horror stories we had read aside, we managed to secure our rickshaw for all of this at a pretty good unhaggled if demanded price. directions were a little more difficult. Rajasthan itself has a 75% illiteracy rate and, although we were just outside the state in Agra, Colonel Lamba's wife told us not to bother showing people the guest house card, since they would not be able to read it.

deciding on the famous Agra Fort for tomorrow and the surely needs no introduction Taj Mahal for Wednesday, plus some possible extra trips, we spent the baking afternoon - seemingly much hotter and overpowering than Delhi had been (only we now know that is has been the wettest April in Delhi on record) resting and recuperating from being ill, with Philippa having the worst of it. Edd spent some time catching up on this writing in the shaded part of our roof, a heavy hot silence punctuated only by occasional birdsong, football game noises and strong-voiced imams.

a bower bird makes a home just feet away, apparently unconcerned by its staring neighbours.

the home-cooked evening meal - specifically tailored to those of recently unhappy guts - was just what the Colonel ordered. with the Taj invisible from our rooftop in the moonless night, we hit the mattress early to recover our weakened strength for the days ahead.

smiles and flowers

edd & philippa