Reliving the Mughal era

At exactly 6 in the morning, the Bhopal Shatabdi departs from NDLS (very punctual). This was the first field trip of our project and this bunch of 10 girls was thrilled to begin the journey. Any journey with friends is fun, and this was going to be more than that. 2 hrs 10 mins we had uncontrollable talks, laughs, giggles, discussions and breakfast (which was good). We arrived at the Agra Cantt to be welcomed by our shining host (Surya dev). Even at 8.10 in the morning we could feel its heat.

Moving out of the station, a herd of localities rushed towards us. It was so irritating to say No to each and every taxi driver. We wondered how the foreigners must be feeling. <Incredible India>

We hopped in our hired vehicles, enjoying the remaining distance to Taj (The roads are good, well maintained, but more trees need to be planted).  We reached the parking lot to find a variety of modes to reach Taj Mahal. There were horse carriages, camel carriages and battery cars. We stopped by the Shilp gram to buy tickets. (This UP tourism building needs a little bit more grooming. The sculptures outside the building were unnecessarily built, and were even in a poor condition. Then the inside space was also unsatisfactorily utilized. They could have used the entrance to depict stories and showcase the history attached with the place.)

We took our tickets and sat on those battery rickshaws to enter from the East Gate. The shops outside the entrance were fine (at least they were in limited numbers). We went through a strict security check and the most of unexpected things happened. We were not permitted to take in the questionnaires (I mean, they are just questionnaires and we came all way along from delhi to just survey the foreigners. We need to take our questionnaires in). Well, the security men asked us to take permit from the ASI. So Kalpana Ma’am and Vajpeyi Ma’am went to the ASI office inside the Taj compound. Meanwhile we waited for them outside the CRPF office. 15 mins passed, and we were enjoying our time and getting entertained by our monkey friend. But… as time passed we started getting irritated. The exiting foreigners were making us feel restless. We were so close to filling our questionnaires, and still so far. That’s not fair. We did not come all the way long from Delhi to see foreigners; we also had to make them fill out questionnaires. Finally our teachers arrived and that too with bad news. The officials here told to take permit from the ASI office of Agra, that would mean spending more than an hour to go there and get permission, and still we were not sure if they would give permission or not. So we finally decided to do our survey outside the Taj campus, and not to forget, after that we ourselves would experience the eternal loveJ. (All pain kept aside, it was good to see that the officials and guards were very strict for the security; very appreciable)

We talked to the guards and they allowed us to re-enter in the same ticket. No offence, but it was very funny surveying outside. 10 girls chasing a group of foreigners along with the shopkeepers, this was surely not the right way to do it. We split among ourselves, and decided to go in rounds. The heat was burning us all. We got 4-5 questionnaires filled, when our teachers asked us to enter again.

We re-entered and were determined to see the Taj this time:-D.

BEAUTIFUL!!!!! These were the only words I could say. Structured in white marble, the Taj Mahal looked beautiful. I could hardly stop myself from admiring its beauty. Its construction was amazing. Standing on a high platform beside the river Yamuna, one could find oneself indulging in the purity and love of the place. The embroidery on its wall, the 3d effects of the pillars, the superiority of the inclined minars, everything was fascinating. No wonder, it is among the Seven Wonders of the World. (I have nothing to describe its beauty, you can only experience it)

Well, we were really tired and hungry after all the sightseeing. We went to a nice restaurant, had an amazing lunch and were ready for the nap (not really:-D). One thing I must say is that Agra attracts a heavy load of tourists; wherever you go you will find foreigners (outnumbering IndiansJ).

Next we rode off to Fatehpur Sikri. I don’t remember much about the surroundings, to my loss, because I was sleeping for most of the parts. But the road trip was amazing and hilarious :D :D. I and Sramana were sitting next to the driver on a single seat. But we were jam packed with 3 bag packs. The funniest part was the way how we slept. We shifted a bag to the deck, then I slept over 2 bags and Sramana slept over me. (I am still laughing picturing that moment). Our stomachs were full and it was a sunny bright afternoon, and we in no case could miss on our sleep. We were in such a position that when we woke up we were adjusting our specsJ.  We woke up, I guess, 10 mins before reaching the venue.

We had already confirmed with the driver about the rules. To much of our relief we could take our questionnaires in. We took the government bus which was a 3 min drive to the fort complex. While walking towards the bus, we were accompanied by a guide, a rather irritating one. He kept on forcing us to hire him. The more we avoided him the more he would try convince us. On that 10 mins walk from the stand to the bus, he lowered his charges from ₹500 to ₹150. It was so irritating. But, then when I think from his side may be he was doing so for his livelihood. May be it was his only source of earning. Spending so much physical labor and energy for such a meager salary is really tough. Well, we do not live in a developed economy. We can just hope that the government does something for them, like securing their jobs by recruiting them as registered government guide etc.

Well, we were finally standing in front of the grand fort. More than the fort, I think we got excited by seeing the huge no. of foreign tourists (a bus filled with foreigners came just in front of our eyes, finally we got some work). Of course we could not just pounce on them, we had to use our skills. Plus we were here not just for the questionnaires but also for the experience. As we stepped inside the palace the first historical structure was the corridor were common man came to get justice from the king, the “Diwaan-I-Aam”. We then walked through the “Diwaan-I-Khas”. It was so magical to imagine Akbar standing on the top and his ministers, presenting him with different issues. We exit towards the chamber where treasuries were kept. Standing on the boundary of the fort complex, when could realize its height, a height from where you could see the whole town below. It was marvelous. I mean WOW. These kings and queens, they lived such a grand and luxurious life.

We then went on to see the “Panch Mahal”. Its construction is really smart. The roof is quite low. This was because King Akbar was short height ed. In this way only he could stand tall and else had to lean in front of him. Else also, he was the king after all, so you got to bow. We then saw the amazing platform where Akbar used to enjoy music. His queens would come through the curtained corridor and witness the huge gatherings for Tansen, one of the nine jewels of Emperor Akbar.

We then moved ahead to see Jodha Bai’s kitchen. Since it was Jodha Bai who gave birth to the first descendant of the Mughal Empire, in her Honor Fatehpur Sikri was built. So she was given the privilege of a complete palace with her own kitchen and prayer room. It is noteworthy that since she was from a Rajputana family, her palace was designed in the same manner. The kitchen was grand. You could feel a 1-2 degrees difference in the temperature outside and inside the kitchen. It also had spaces for idols. But it was sad to see that the kitchen was in a bad shape. It really needed maintenance and care.

Thankfully, there was a water source inside the complex (We could not find one in Taj Mahal). We refilled our bottles and went ahead with more enthusiasm. Next what we saw was more than fascinating. Jodha Bai's palace and she had different summer and winter palaces. I mean that is the royalty of the queen of the Mughal Empire.

Standing in center of the palace, where the queen worshiped the Goddess tulsi, if you face towards the gate on your left, there was the grand summer palace with huge windows through which cool breeze from the lakes entered the room; and on your right was the grand winter palace with no windows and constructed such a way that it gets heat up to keep the room warm. On your back side is the huge temple where she worshiped Lord Krishna. More astonishing was to see the number of rooms for the queen’s servants. Seriously, what a grand life she lived. But, if you think from the other side it was also so lonely. The king would visit once in a while and you could not even go outside the palace. In a world where we are so much addicted to gadgets, this thought is really disturbing. But, I am sure she had her own ways of keeping herself busyJ.

After finally reliving the whole lifestyle of Jodha and Akbar, we took some rest, regained our energy and set off for Salim Chisti’s Dargah. It is said that it was only then when Emperor Akbar and Jodha Bai prayed to Salim Chisti for a heir that they were rewarded with Jahangir (the 4^th Mughal king). On reaching the Dargah we were faced with the same issue “guide-trouble”. Keeping everything aside we walked towards the prayer chamber, passing through the tombs of Salim Chisti’s family (it was scary, walking past all those dead bodies). We finally went in and said our prayers (I remembered that girls are not allowed to enter mosques but they can enter a dargah). Two of the most appealing structures of the Dargah were the grand “Buland Darwaza” and the stone work on the tomb of Salim Chisti.

We were at the end of our journey now, at around 5:30 we departed from Fatehpur Sikri. We were really surprised to see the traffic condition while entering Agra. One side of the road was completely blocked by a pandaal (a tent where people perform holistic rituals and celebrate). It was such a mess. The outgoing and incoming vehicles were using the same one way. The people were shouting, crazily snarling horns and trying to do their best to move out of the traffic from any nook or corner possible. In this chaos, we saw 2 depressing things. First was a bus full of tourists (don’t know what they must be thinking after seeing this). Second was seeing a small kid tightly holding and sitting on the front of the bicycle, and the cyclist was so casual about it. He did not even care to hold him so he might not fall. The 1 year old kid had to look after his safety and so he was holding the handle so firmly that no force in the world could open his fists.

After thankfully escaping from the traffic, we went to buy Agra’s most famous Panchi petha (Panchi is a famous shop for petha and petha is a famous sweet-dish of Agra). But to our disappointment we were running late for the train, so we bought from some other shop (but it was good, I never knew there was so much variety in this dish). Finally we boarded our train, the same one, and reached NDLS.