It is summer already and a few crazy ones like me are thankful for the dark, cold, freezing days to have become a thing of past. I was almost in hibernation all throughout winters, only awaiting the sunshine to warm up my days. Three months of keeping wanderlust in check had already taken a toll and an escapade was the only thing that could make me feel better. April came, and with it my travel plans found new life, and a new (and awesome) travel companion.
I, along with a dear friend and travel enthusiast was all set for a road trip. Everything was taken care of except a minute detail. Neither of us knew how to drive. No, this was no blonde moment but a known assumption that it won’t be difficult to find a cab. A few hiccups and a few promises to ourselves to learn driving later, we found the perfect cab driver we were looking for.
Soon, we were all set for the road trip from Saddi Dilli to Agra. But, all the planning that we tried to do, led to nothing but feasting on pictures of the beautiful Taj. After a point, we decided to let the planning be and explore the city on our own. We decided to stop being tourists and start being travellers. And it all turned out pretty well.
We wanted to skip the crowds to get some great pictures of the Taj, so we started early. It was still dark when we hit the Yamuna Expressway. Music playing from the car stereo turned into a background score as we chatted excitedly through the lengths and breadths of the roads that lay ahead of us. An exquisite sunrise on the highway later, we entered Agra. The city was still waking up from slumber and two damsels who were not in distress (for a change) acted as catalysts. I felt that the city was not ready to handle two female Indian travellers, even though it is quite used to foreign ones.
Both of us had not experienced a horse-cart before, so we decided to give it a shot and it was one hell of a ride. It is strange that some of our cities are still carrying this heritage forward. Maybe it is just a way to attract people like us to try things that are obviously from a different era. The short ride to the gates of the Taj was surely a few bucks very well spent.
It was still early morning when we entered the Taj gardens. The first view of this white beauty is something I will not forget ever. We both just stood there, mesmerized and completely absorbed in our own thoughts. Many History text books came alive in front of my eyes as I tried to capture the monument from every angle possible, with sunlight playing games with my lens. The first rays of sunlight falling on white marbles satisfied my camera like none other.
We wandered around, clicking pictures and thinking out loud about the bygone era which witnessed the love story that is responsible for the Taj. We didn’t take along a guide, because both of us were not visiting for the first time and we were aware of the half true stories they serve to the visitors. Seeing the Taj once again, it only broke my heart thinking about hazel eyed Mumtaz, the queen of queens in whose memory Taj was built. Her short lifespan can never be justified, even by something as majestic as the Taj itself. True love doesn’t mean bearing umpteen children for the man in one’s life, and I couldn’t stop imagining what life would have been for the supposedly undisputed queen of Shah Johan’s heart. It’s another not so known story that the emperor married Mumtaz Mahal’s sister shortly after her demise. True Love?
We left Taj premises wondering about the woman for whom it was built. If only the emperor cared enough for her during her lifetime to spare her alone instead of burying her under the weight of multiple child births. But who knows, maybe, she died a happy woman. Maybe…
By now, all this food for thought had intrigued our stomachs as well and we headed over to Trident for a scrumptious breakfast buffet. We spent a good few hours eating our hearts out and imagining the lives of those queens and princesses of a bygone era. With our stomachs full, we headed towards the Agra Fort which bore an uncanny resemblance to the Red Fort of Delhi. The fort was huge, and it took many hours for us to explore the timeless beauty captured in every nook and corner of this building. View of Taj from its corridors was mesmerizing! It was already early evening by the time we came out.
Our next and final destination was Chaat Gali, Sadar Bazar. Only mouth-watering chaat could have brought us back into a cheerful mood after all the musings about the era where polygamy was a way of life. We hogged on to the desi delicacies until our stomachs could take no more. Happy stomachs and taste buds later, we headed to the famous Panchi Petha outlet before returning back to Delhi.
This was one trip both of us would remember for long for the amazing food we had and the food for thought that we could not leave behind.
Find more about me on my website