Looking outside the box

For me the Taj Mahal was a model approx 12 inches square which lived in a light box with a tangled cable and bakerlite plug. My grandfather, Freddy Groom brought it back for his younger sister, my great Auntie Doris, 87 years ago. John was lucky enough to see the Taj for real at 14 years old when accompanying his parents on a business trip.

Tuesday 1 January 2013

8 am - The cold fog is set around Agra - we walk around the Taj Mahal gardens expecting we'll be there a while before it lifts. The towers tease us through the mist. By 11 am we're loitering in the stunning mausoleum, grateful for the warmth of so many tourists.

At about 11.30 we can't hang around anymore, it's so cold and the Taj complex is lacking in a tea room, so we'll have to be happy with a few close up photos and the pictures we took last night from the other side of the bank. We ask an American guy to photograph us on the famous VIP seat. Sadly the Taj remains in its 'snowy' box today like the ones being sold for 100 rupees by the street hawkers.

After a brief re charge of warm sweet tea at our hotel we check out and go to the Red Fort. We keep glimpsing blurry views of the Taj across on the other side of the river to check if the vision has improved.

John and I decide on new tactics with the hawkers and guides today. We drop 'thank you' from 'no' - perhaps it shows weakness and we seem to get instant results as they move onto their next prey. When asked if we want a guide I say indignantly 'I am a guide!' I'm sure they've heard it all before but it provides us with some small amusement.

I'm not dreading the next train from Agra to Varanasi but I'm not particularly looking forward to it either. Our driver today (Pradeep left us last night for another tour) drops us off at Costa Coffee where we can linger til 7.30pm. I recall the years making a coffee last 2 hours whilst waiting for Tom and Emma's extra curricular activities.

The driver informs us that the train is 3 hours delayed, in fact 1 hour delay, plus one, plus one. We consider our options:

Drive to Varanasi - too dangerous in the fog
Fly to Varanasi - the airport is shut for 2 months
Go back to our hotel and wait: we speak to Sunil on the phone who is our Agra contact. He meets us at Hotel Ganga, it certainly smells but to be fair John spots someone is cleaning out a fish tank!

Sunil says he has arranged a good room rate, we decide to stay since we are there already. We're tired after our gala gangham style New Year's Eve party and a long day sight seeing. However, the hotel is horrible, we nap fully clothed, this is a box I don't want to remember.

At about 1am we get a knock on the door for our bags, seems the room call didn't happen then. The driver is waiting - we are on our way.

Just before 3am the train sets off, we are joined in our next AC 2 tier box by a lovely family from Buxton, Derbyshire with whom we spend the next 17 hours. The Marudhar Express due in to Varanasi at 0835 hours, arrives at 2000 hours on 2 January 2013.

First photo is taken at Taj Mahal.
Second is the 'baby Taj' Itmad-ud-Daulah (actually pre dates the Taj Mahal)
Last picture is the Taj Mahal 'box' my grandfather brought back in 1925