Week 16, Agra the Taj Mahal

After Jaipur we hired a car and driver to take us to Agra via Fatehpur Sikri. Susan, who was another volunteer at Shelter Associates, recommended we go the Fatehpur Sikri. It was amazing. It was constructed in 1570 and then they only lived there for about 15 years and then abandoned the place. I don’t really know how it’s been kept so well maintained, but it’s just like a ghost town now. We spent a few hours walking around (including a big mosque, Jami Masjid, that is still in use right next door). Many of the buildings had really detailed carvings all over.



Then we drove to Agra. We stayed at the Taj Plaza hotel, which is really close to the east gate of the Taj Mahal. They messed up our reservation, so we ended up in the best (most expensive) room in the hotel with a view of the Taj Mahal from both bedrooms and the toilet! So we saw it at sundown the night we arrived, and then we got up a dawn to visit it the next morning.



The Taj Mahal is hard to describe. I was expecting it to be one of those places that you’ve seen in photos and on TV so many times that you feel like you’ve been there already. But it really wasn’t. It is even more beautiful than I could have imagined. The marble inlay work is so detailed, and it’s all over the place. We took the required photos from the end of the water as you enter the complex, and then walked all around to get a closer look. We spent a couple hours there, but I could have sat there and stared at it all day. It’s so white and shiny you just don’t want to take your eyes off it.

Later that afternoon Euan was not feeling well, so he went back to the hotel to rest. My mom and I tried to go to Agra Fort, but our rickshaw driver talked us out of it saying it was quite expensive and really small. We just took a picture outside and instead we went to see some more handicrafts. In Jaipur we saw textiles being block printed and embroidered by hand, in Varanasi we saw silk being woven by hand, and here in Agra we saw people inlaying marble by hand. It’s really neat to see these things being done, but on the other hand it’s sad because they are showing you exactly what we would call a sweat-shop in the West. They work sitting hunched over on the floor with very little light, 7 days a week, and get paid next to nothing. And we benefit from this by being able to buy cheap stuff. It makes you not want to buy anything because then you are supporting it, but if you don’t buy anything then these people become unemployed and have no money at all. So we bought a little bit of stuff.