Vic-Views - The Life & Times of Sheila & Norm

After two nights at the Suryaa, we left Delhi heading for Agra. The route out of the capital took us past the Akshardham Temple - the largest Hindu temple in Delhi. Compared to other religious buildings visited on the tour, this has to be the newest, only opened in 2006.

This part of the city was home to the 2010 Commonwealth Games - this event was an impetus to the building of the Delhi Subway which opened 8 years previously. The Games also resulted in the construction of new housing in the form of an athlete’s village to be used for public housing after the Games. No international sporting spectacle would be complete without a scandal - and Delhi was no exception where it still reverberates today.

The Yamuna Expressway passes through one of the “silicon suburbs’” found around the capital - the one we passed is called Noida which is home to many call centres, multinational IT and related companies as well as local start-ups. Noida is certainly booming with subway and highway connections accompanying lots of construction of office and apartment blocks. The rapid pace of development has made some farmers very rich when they have been bought out, sometimes more than once! 

Because of urban sprawl, it took us more than 1.5 hours to get out of the built up area. The farmland that we passed through seemed fertile producing crops of canola and lentils. Land looked to be divided into small parcels with most work being done by hand with only the occasional tractor or other form of mechanisation to be seen. This would be supported by the statistic that 70% of the country’s population is rural. Farmers don’t pay income tax leaving 30% of the population to financially support the rest of the population. Land is passed down through the generations, divided among the sons, not the daughters, resulting in ever smaller parcels of land.

Agra, a city of 1 million, had narrower streets than Delhi making traffic seem even more congested as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, tuk tuks cars and cattle all jostled for space. The only winners seemed to be the cattle!

It was an early start for the trip to the Taj Mahal - to avoid the crowds and catch the sunrise. While we beat the crowds, the smog obliterated the sunrise! Our diesel bus stopped some 500m from the Taj Mahal grounds, where we transferred to an electric bus. The rationale being to protect the Taj Mahal from pollution. The rationale failed to provide the anticipated results!

The poor air quality did not distract from the wonder and amazement at such a magnificent structure which was built between 1631 and 1648.  What is striking about the Taj Mahal, Humayun's tomb and other structures that we had yet to encounter is just how massive they are.  Another common thread is that they are all set in huge grounds rather than in a cramped setting. The Taj Mahal was built by the sixth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan to honour the  memory of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The building is full of exquisite craftsmanship - from the masonry skills to cut the marble to such exact proportions, with precious stones inlaid into the polished marble and precise delicate marble filigree panels to say nothing of the engineering skills required to manoeuvre the massive slabs of stone into place. Mumtaz’s coffin was placed in very the centre of the mausoleum, the place normally reserved for the husband. Shah Jahan’s fate was of Shakespearean dimensions. During the construction of the Taj Mahal when he became ill, his four sons fought among themselves for succession rights; the third son, Aurangzeb proving to be victorious. Although Shah Jahan recovered from his illness, he was put under house arrest by Aurangzeb in Agra Fort for the last 8 years of his life. Perhaps the only consolation, or was it torture, was that Shah Jahan had an uninterrupted view of the Taj Mahal from his house arrest in Agra Fort.  As one walks around the mausoleum, it is easy to understand why it is considered one of the wonders of the world, and worthy of the UNESCO World Heritage listing. Unfortunately, the smog camouflaged the striking white marble - compromising our photos. 

In an interesting twist that I only learned when preparing this web page is that the Utter Pradesh State government, as of October 2017, is no longer referencing the Taj Mahal as a key attraction in the State’s tourist brochure “Utter Pradesh Tourism - Unlimited Possibilities”. Why, you ask? According to the Minister,  a member of the BJP Party, “the structure does not represent Indian culture” One of the state’s lawmakers was quoted by the BBC as saying:

• "Is this history that the person who built the Taj Mahal imprisoned his father?"
• "Do you call it a history when the one who built the Taj targeted many Hindus in Uttar Pradesh and Hindustan?"
• "If this is history, then it is very unfortunate and we will change this history, I guarantee you.”
• Religious tensions are never far below the surface in India.

BTW - if you are planning on going to the Taj Mahal in 2018, the dome is the part of the building which will be undergoing maintenance and cleaning.

Agra is home to skilled marble artisans - not a surprise given it is home to the Taj Mahal. We were taken to a marble factory where we saw how some marvellous marble wall panels, table tops or cheese boards were made. After seeing a demonstration of how the work was done, we were led into the showroom where no cameras were allowed, but we were “encouraged” to purchase a souvenir.

The other main attraction in Agra, is Agra Fort, also a UNESCO World Heritage listing. Actually it was more a walled city rather than “just a fort”. The first fort was built in the early part of the 16th century. Over the next 50 years it was modified and expanded by different Mughals culminating in the present massive red sandstone architectural project sponsored by Shah Jahan built on the banks of the Yamuna River.  Its 21m high walls run some 2.5 kms. It is ironic that this is where Aurangzeb kept his father Shah Jahan under house arrest.

The highlight of the day came at the dinner table. The waiter asked who was ordering drinks. Sheila observed to the waiter that the price of wine was significantly less at our last hotel. She was served glass of wine at the Agra Marriot - reduced some 30% from the list price. Everything can be bargained in India.