Agra/Back to Delhi

They say that the Taj Mahal is the most beautiful building in the world. And yet it is built in this dirty little city named Agra, which is really not a very pleasant place to spend time. We woke up very early in the morning to go see the Taj at sunrise, which is the thing to do. I had a guided tour around the Taj and its surrounding gardens, which truly were beautiful. I think the problem was, I had been daydreaming and looking longingly at this gorgeous photo of the Taj in my guidebook, and it turns out that in my humble opinion, it actually looks better in the photo. Everyone says it is far bigger than they expected, and this made me think it must be enormous, but it is not. I know this is heresy. Anyway, it was certainly worth seeing. These rajas certainly had an obsession with symmetry. Everything on the entire property of the Taj is symmetrical, and Shah Jahan, who built it, was going to make a mirror image black Taj on the other side of the river as his own mausoleum. Unfortunately for him, his son thought that constructing giant multi-billion dollar marble mausoleums was a waste of money and locked him into a closet for the rest of his life to stop him, so there is no black Taj. But it is interesting to think of the mirror Taj and how far the symmetric revolution would have gone and gone with nothing to get in its way…



After visiting the Taj, I was taken to a marble shop, where people who are supposedly descendants of the workers who built the Taj carve semi-precious stones into marble just like the decorations on the Taj itself. These items were truly lovely, but once I started asking about the prices, I was just shocked at how expensive everything was. It was way out of my price range, and I kept asking to see cheaper and cheaper stuff until it became apparent that nothing in this store except ugly Taj Mahal magnets was within my price range. I also think I was suffering from the effect of being asked my profession (which I am still having difficulty lying about), because at least twice the salesman said “you are doctor. This not much for you.”


I must have refused this guy a million times (in case this point hasn’t gotten across, I am a failure at refusing things), and finally the boss of the shop came in and got me to agree to a deal. Then when I had half signed the receipt and gotten the thing wrapped up in a box, it turned out that he put in his last price offer, not mine, even though he had made it sound like he agreed to my price. This was simply the last straw for me and this dark black cloud came across my face that looked like it actually scared the salesman. He started apologizing frantically and saying “You be happy. Take this free gift! Here, free gift for you. You smile now.” Only the free gift was something that I absolutely didn’t want, and I almost threw it in his face, but decided there was nothing else to do but take it and get out. It is sad to admit but after this incident, I started feeling like I could not take this sales/begging rubbish anymore, and I nearly started to cry, even though I was telling myself how completely stupid it was to let something like that ruin my vacation.


After this we visited Agra Fort and then I started on my journey back to Delhi, after an accusation from my guide of the day that I had stiffed him with my tip. This tipping culture makes you feel like you’re being nickel and dimed all day long. Maybe if you grow up with it, it doesn’t seem bothersome, but to me it is exhausting. I think it is not just the fact that everyone expects a tip, but the fact that they really NEED the tip and are desperate for the tip to be big, and this makes them behave in very irritating and ingratiating ways that have the opposite effect on me.