Menta, our driver, and the Taj Mahal.

We met Menta on the morning of October 6 when he picked us up to start our six day tour of Agra, Jaipur, and Pushkar. Nicholas decided to stay in Delhi but came down to meet our driver, say goodbye, and his concern for our safety to our driver. Nicholas is the size of a linebacker. Menta is the same size as me. I think it helped because not only was Menta watchful of our safety, he was a great driver; transportation on the roads warrants a full blog post onto itself.

Agra is about 250 km from Delhi. However, that distance is deceptive because it took nearly 7 hours, through a horrible traffic jam, blistering heat in a car with failing air conditioning, and a roadside stop. We chose the appropriately named Shanti Lodge for Rs 400 a night (about $9). While it was clean, it was shabby; the bathroom sink drained directly onto the floor and the air conditioner was an "air chiller" which consisted of an industrial sized fan encased in a bale of hay. We did, however, have a television, though Melissa noted, "I'd rather have t.p. than TV."

However, our choice of that hotel was based on the rooftop patio restaurant, which not only had a fantastic view of the Taj, it had great food. Getting our ticket to the Taj was an exercise in Indian bureaucracy as the ticket office is nowhere near the gate, but a fleet of rickshaw drivers are quite happy to take you the 1 km up the road to the office for a small fee. Upon reflection, I believe it was set up strategically this way to provide further employment for the poorest of the poor, which bicycle rickshaw drivers are. At the gate there are three more staff—one to check your ticket and make a mark on it, one to tear it, and another to stamp it. Again, further employment. With more than a billion people to employ, it makes sense to carve out roles where possible.

My reflections

Before I arrived in India I read a great book called "Tourists at the Taj" by Tim Edensor. He spent a few years studying tourists at the Taj Mahal and how they interacted, viewed, looked upon, and moved around this imposing monument. I was glad I'd read the book but something about my experience at the Taj, as wonderful as it was, was unsettling, as one of the things Edensor wrote about was how visitors follow a specific path, take pictures of the same things; painfully predictable (my words, not his.) I felt that Edensor was studying tourist behaviour, but wonder if his insights were somewhat short-sighted. I did much the same things he described, but not out of choice, as the spaces around the monument doesn't really allow for much creativity of movement--visitors much follow a defined path, rules, and are therefore limited in how they experience the building and surrounding areas. And with 35C+ heat, going early in the morning or later in the evening is not about getting the best light, it's about avoiding heatstroke!

I read a journal article recently where one of the authors talked about famous world sites which overshadow everything else nearby. The Taj Mahal is a perfect example of this. I can't tell you anything about the region; I don't even know what state Agra is in. Tourists can buy any number of Taj related souvenirs from small marble replicas to fridge magnets; entire infrastructure in Agra town is geared towards facilitating tourists' visits, probably at the expense of the rest of the area. The Taj Mahal is so beautiful, it's like it sucked all the beauty out of the surrounding area and I'm sure other tourists would agree that Agra town is a dump.

If I ever go back to a tourist site which is known for having a one trick pony, I'll be looking beyond the obvious and not be so single-sighted. India has so much beauty of culture and people, but it isn't blatant and must be sought out beyond the poverty, beggars, and crumbling infrastructure. I'm sure the Taj Mahal is no different.