Monday, February 13, 2006
Mughalai week-end around Delhi and Agra
One more break of 3 days, this time to meet my parents during their Indian trip. They spent already one week in Rajahstan, and go now by bus from Jaipur to Varanasi (Benares) through Agra, Gwalior and Kadjurao.
Late landing in Indira Gandhi airport in Dehli. No clear idea about how to reach Fatehpur Sikri in the early afternoon. Bus, train, car? I go to a tourist counter to collect some infos. Bus is excluded since too unsafe, train will increase the delay. So solution is car with driver. A good old Ambassador (looks like a Peugeot 403 for the experts) for Rs.4600 one day (about 100 USD), Rs.150 more for 2 days, and Rs.1050 more for 3 days. Difficult to understand the logic, but I have no choice, and this solution gives a perfect flexibility, makes the meeting possible. I won't meet anybody during the travel but the show along the road is much better than through the train window.
Lunch time. Truck driver's restaurant along the road. Some plastic chairs under a currogated metallic roof. Coke adds showing happy Bollywood stars. Two kinds dressed one in clown and the other in yellow monkey are waving all day to the cars to make them stop. Classical misunderstanding. I ask the waiter what they do here. He calls the "monkey". 10 year old. "I am a monkey, my name is Ram". "Hello Ram!". In fact the mask looks more like a gaz-protecting mask with bigg eyes and a huge nose hanging. After I had my dahl-makani (black lentils) with chapati (wheat pancake) I give the change to the young monkey and the ambassador hits the road again. On the road, we cross already camels pulling heavy loads of cereals...
Entry to Uttar-Pradesh state. The driver stops to pay some taxes. I am offered to acquire peacocks feather by one, necklaces by another, to get a bear's dance show by a third party (the young bear stand outside the car!) and give so money to the crippled guy who is on duty there at that time (not so nice, he walks with his arms, anormally thin legs no more working - if at all they ever worked. Very common handicap here, unfortunatly)...
I am late. My parents are about to leave Fatehpur Sikri where we were supposed to meet. And I want to see that place absolutly. So we agree on a later meeting point, Agra.
[Fatehpur is a city built by Akbar - the Great - the 3rd and major mughal emperor, who tried a synthesis between islam, christianism and hindouism, didn't succeed, and abandonned the city as he noticed that there was no water to settle down in the Agra's red fort]
Foggy weather in late afternoon. First contact with mughal civilisation for 9 years. Last time was during my military duty as I got the virus when visiting Lahore, the mosq, Jahangir's mausoleum and the Shalimar's garden. Was in Pakistan. This time, one the other side of the border, I start seeing the profile of the massive wall of Fatehpur Sikri. Many red sandstone ruins all around. The road is going up. Once on hill top, I jump out of the car and get immediatly a guide who wants to bring me in the emperor's palace. Only 45 min left before sunset and admition end...No, the mosq has free access, so let's go there. Inside some pavillions with special tombs inside. Marble, mucharabiehs, floral decorations, Coran's quotations, extremely raffinated geometrical patterns. One of the pavillions, white marble, is frequently visited by young women who couldn't get a baby so far and who come, give and pray to get one soon. Doing it here is supposed to help them, whatever their religion might be, right in the middle of a mosq! They offer money or flower petals, make a wish and tie a knot on the mucharabieh placed on the left side of the tomb.
A insisting drum's noise is now coming through the southern and main gate. I go and see from the top of a big stairway covered by a colorful crowd firespiters, drumcontests (2 drummers per big drum hitting each one side), sword acrobats. It is the third day of a muslim festival celebrating Hussein's death anniversary (Mahomet's grandson?). Feels like street scenes in the middle-ages. Magic, electric mood. On my way down one more crazy scene : a tractor pulling a excessive brick load doing a "wheeling" (2 front wheels lifted from the groung) when moving to the hill top.
Dusk. Heading to Agra. The driver can't help sounding the horn for each car he crosses. Becomes tiring. Reaching Agra, "Taj Mahal's" city. Mum and Dad are there, they have so many things to tell about the week they spent in Rajahstan : Movie shooting scenes in a palace, invitation in rajput families, elephant rides,... they really seem to enjoy much. On the next day, wake up at 5.30, in the car at 6.00, in front of the Taj at 6.40...and yet night is already over. Early grey. Cool dawn. Muntaz and Shah Jahan are together inside for their endless sleep. So much harmony in one building celebrating love. The climax of centuries of architectural development and decenies of mughal art. Festival of geometric patterns and delicate flower carvings. Flawless. Beautifull red sandstone mosq on the left. Madrasa in front (Coran school). Foggy Yamuna river behind. On a boat, a journalist is shooting a report with this magic background. What more to say...
In the afternoon, the Red Fort of Agra. Behind huge walls, canopies, mucharabiehs, geometric gardens, diwan pavillons,... all the good old mughal recepies are also here. The 6 generations of mughal emperors are metioned again and again : Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. On the next morning on my way back to Delhi, short drop in Akbar's mausoleum, where green perrots, antilops, black monkeys, squirrels and peacoks are roaming in the inside park. The tomb's room is big but sober, no decoration, light coming from one single window and one additonal bulb projection a diagonal shadow on the tombstone. Such a contrast with the Taj Mahal. Simplicity for the greatest. But I don't want this blog to become a touristic guide, so after a day of site visits in Delhi (Humayun's tomb prefiguration of the Taj, surrounded by lots of small and older tombs - Isa Khan's beeing the oldest and most original // then the Qutub Minar, 73m looking like a sequoia's trunk with exquisite carvings, and the very first mosq built in India, made of the rest of hindu and jain temples!) the driver asks to drop for a while at an emporium (expensive art shop). I understand only later why he was insisting that much. 400 roupies bakshish to bring a foreign tourist there for 10 min, whether I buy something or not. Of course, I don't buy anything, enjoy the cardamom tea offered during the carpet deployment, and leave the place after the agreed 10min. I made a driver happy! He got on the spot the equivalent of 3 days of work. So happy that he offers me a pack of indian cigarets, the so called "bidi"! The cigaret paper is in fact a dried leave and it is priced 5 roupies for a pack of 25! (so 10 times less than a pack or normal cigarets, costing alreay one fifth of the european price)
But it is already time to fly back the South. Such an intense sequence of discoveries and new experiences gives you a rare enthousiasm and a strong feeling of plenitude.
Late landing in Indira Gandhi airport in Dehli. No clear idea about how to reach Fatehpur Sikri in the early afternoon. Bus, train, car? I go to a tourist counter to collect some infos. Bus is excluded since too unsafe, train will increase the delay. So solution is car with driver. A good old Ambassador (looks like a Peugeot 403 for the experts) for Rs.4600 one day (about 100 USD), Rs.150 more for 2 days, and Rs.1050 more for 3 days. Difficult to understand the logic, but I have no choice, and this solution gives a perfect flexibility, makes the meeting possible. I won't meet anybody during the travel but the show along the road is much better than through the train window.
Lunch time. Truck driver's restaurant along the road. Some plastic chairs under a currogated metallic roof. Coke adds showing happy Bollywood stars. Two kinds dressed one in clown and the other in yellow monkey are waving all day to the cars to make them stop. Classical misunderstanding. I ask the waiter what they do here. He calls the "monkey". 10 year old. "I am a monkey, my name is Ram". "Hello Ram!". In fact the mask looks more like a gaz-protecting mask with bigg eyes and a huge nose hanging. After I had my dahl-makani (black lentils) with chapati (wheat pancake) I give the change to the young monkey and the ambassador hits the road again. On the road, we cross already camels pulling heavy loads of cereals...
Entry to Uttar-Pradesh state. The driver stops to pay some taxes. I am offered to acquire peacocks feather by one, necklaces by another, to get a bear's dance show by a third party (the young bear stand outside the car!) and give so money to the crippled guy who is on duty there at that time (not so nice, he walks with his arms, anormally thin legs no more working - if at all they ever worked. Very common handicap here, unfortunatly)...
I am late. My parents are about to leave Fatehpur Sikri where we were supposed to meet. And I want to see that place absolutly. So we agree on a later meeting point, Agra.
[Fatehpur is a city built by Akbar - the Great - the 3rd and major mughal emperor, who tried a synthesis between islam, christianism and hindouism, didn't succeed, and abandonned the city as he noticed that there was no water to settle down in the Agra's red fort]
Foggy weather in late afternoon. First contact with mughal civilisation for 9 years. Last time was during my military duty as I got the virus when visiting Lahore, the mosq, Jahangir's mausoleum and the Shalimar's garden. Was in Pakistan. This time, one the other side of the border, I start seeing the profile of the massive wall of Fatehpur Sikri. Many red sandstone ruins all around. The road is going up. Once on hill top, I jump out of the car and get immediatly a guide who wants to bring me in the emperor's palace. Only 45 min left before sunset and admition end...No, the mosq has free access, so let's go there. Inside some pavillions with special tombs inside. Marble, mucharabiehs, floral decorations, Coran's quotations, extremely raffinated geometrical patterns. One of the pavillions, white marble, is frequently visited by young women who couldn't get a baby so far and who come, give and pray to get one soon. Doing it here is supposed to help them, whatever their religion might be, right in the middle of a mosq! They offer money or flower petals, make a wish and tie a knot on the mucharabieh placed on the left side of the tomb.
A insisting drum's noise is now coming through the southern and main gate. I go and see from the top of a big stairway covered by a colorful crowd firespiters, drumcontests (2 drummers per big drum hitting each one side), sword acrobats. It is the third day of a muslim festival celebrating Hussein's death anniversary (Mahomet's grandson?). Feels like street scenes in the middle-ages. Magic, electric mood. On my way down one more crazy scene : a tractor pulling a excessive brick load doing a "wheeling" (2 front wheels lifted from the groung) when moving to the hill top.
Dusk. Heading to Agra. The driver can't help sounding the horn for each car he crosses. Becomes tiring. Reaching Agra, "Taj Mahal's" city. Mum and Dad are there, they have so many things to tell about the week they spent in Rajahstan : Movie shooting scenes in a palace, invitation in rajput families, elephant rides,... they really seem to enjoy much. On the next day, wake up at 5.30, in the car at 6.00, in front of the Taj at 6.40...and yet night is already over. Early grey. Cool dawn. Muntaz and Shah Jahan are together inside for their endless sleep. So much harmony in one building celebrating love. The climax of centuries of architectural development and decenies of mughal art. Festival of geometric patterns and delicate flower carvings. Flawless. Beautifull red sandstone mosq on the left. Madrasa in front (Coran school). Foggy Yamuna river behind. On a boat, a journalist is shooting a report with this magic background. What more to say...
In the afternoon, the Red Fort of Agra. Behind huge walls, canopies, mucharabiehs, geometric gardens, diwan pavillons,... all the good old mughal recepies are also here. The 6 generations of mughal emperors are metioned again and again : Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. On the next morning on my way back to Delhi, short drop in Akbar's mausoleum, where green perrots, antilops, black monkeys, squirrels and peacoks are roaming in the inside park. The tomb's room is big but sober, no decoration, light coming from one single window and one additonal bulb projection a diagonal shadow on the tombstone. Such a contrast with the Taj Mahal. Simplicity for the greatest. But I don't want this blog to become a touristic guide, so after a day of site visits in Delhi (Humayun's tomb prefiguration of the Taj, surrounded by lots of small and older tombs - Isa Khan's beeing the oldest and most original // then the Qutub Minar, 73m looking like a sequoia's trunk with exquisite carvings, and the very first mosq built in India, made of the rest of hindu and jain temples!) the driver asks to drop for a while at an emporium (expensive art shop). I understand only later why he was insisting that much. 400 roupies bakshish to bring a foreign tourist there for 10 min, whether I buy something or not. Of course, I don't buy anything, enjoy the cardamom tea offered during the carpet deployment, and leave the place after the agreed 10min. I made a driver happy! He got on the spot the equivalent of 3 days of work. So happy that he offers me a pack of indian cigarets, the so called "bidi"! The cigaret paper is in fact a dried leave and it is priced 5 roupies for a pack of 25! (so 10 times less than a pack or normal cigarets, costing alreay one fifth of the european price)
But it is already time to fly back the South. Such an intense sequence of discoveries and new experiences gives you a rare enthousiasm and a strong feeling of plenitude.
