Narrow winding lanes, crowded and potholed streets, corner shops selling their wares. That was the route to take before hitting the state roads which become better. Fatehpur Sikri the second capital that did not quite happen for the Mughals. They apparently screwed up on the plumbing.
Pleasant drive continued till I almost had to RAM into a person because he was not getting off the road. This fella quickly became a group of fella who were busy coming to the middle of the road, make you stop and then almost coerce you to take their services as guides. If not you would hear profanities hurled and who knows maybe even your vehicle banged upon!
The kind of rider that I am, I hate intrusions on the road and that too I could sense something amiss almost a 100 mtrs away so I decided to hit the pedal, the Accelerator and not the Brake, Shift to a second gear to make those ^&^@#&s know I meant it and ripped away and then come to a screeching halt ahead to just view which planet these chappies came from… Welcome to tourism in UP!
Anyway, after the heart stopped the palpitations and both of us were in a better state of mind we went ahead towards the Bulund darwaza…
What a creation. Inside was Jama Masjid if you had travelled blindfold into this place straight from Delhi, you'd probably laugh it off . This seemed more peaceful. A decorative tomb of the Emperors advisor and mystic was amazing inside. And so were the chequered one way windows.
Next stop was the fort at Sikri. The famous Tansen’s pedestal for his concerts beats the shit out of modern rock shows. Badly maintained piece of history though. And nothing to beat the different houses for different wives. Hindu, Christian, Muslim… Those guys really had a ball of a time in those days. Trying to weave patterns of thought into each. So while, each mahal cost the same, the dimensions were different, so was the culture woven into the buildings. For instance, the Christian wife had a swimming pool. Can you beat it? For the album click the pictures of the Darwaza.
Bad news came our way today was Friday. The Taj was not available for viewing the whole day! Wish we’d checked this out last afternoon. Anyways the only option was to do the Taj in the Morning and then head on. C’est la vie.
Excusion done, tourist guides negotiated and done with. Head back to Agra town 50 odd kms away…
Hunger pangs after walking around for 5 hours. Break at Agra for lunch, before heading towards the Agra Fort.
What a fort, what a view and how tastefully done. Badly preserved. Here the menace of the guides was not to be found!
Meandered around the fort. Different views inside. And not to beat it different pads for different religions… and a view to the Taj. Apparently, the emperor Shah Jahan had lost it completely and was planning to build a black Taj in vicinity to commemorate himself this time (the white one was in the name of his beloved Noor.) But his son would have nothing of such nonsense and decided to lock him up with a view to the Taj he had already built.
Wow! What excess of wealth can do to you… these guys had some style man. And they were frikkin Looney...
For the pictures of Sikri click here. Agra Fort pictures along with the next post…
The rest of the evening was uneventful, except for the dash to Das Prakash a famous southey joint but here in Agra selling southey meals… well almost there. Not bad we thought but not to be repeated.
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