On Sunday, we decided to squeeze in a visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra before we left for Hyderabad (for a 7:30 PM flight). The five of us and Wade (of Medtronic) left our hotel at 5 AM to leave for Agra. As we've been doing in the past, we decided that interviewing the driver on the way there would be a great idea.
We were told that the trip to Agra would take 4 hours, but that the road was also great. It didn't seem like a 180 km trip on a new highway should take that long, but we soon realized that we had to pay some form of a tax in some other location in Delhi before getting on to the highway. We spent almost an hour looking for the tax office before we finally left for Agra around 6:15 AM. As promised, the road was one of the best we had seen in India so far.
We covered the 180 km stretch in less than 2 hours! Most of us were asleep on the highway, but some of us were taking in the sights and talking to the driver. We saw India's first F1 circuit on the way, and what seemed to be the beginning of a huge sports city complex. We learned from the driver about his life, his family and his experiences with Indian healthcare. Its possible that if we keep this going, we might have the most comprehensive survey on healthcare facilities for Indian drivers that has ever been conducted!
We reached Agra around 8:45 AM. The city was filled with cows! One stood in the middle of the road, and refused to budge even with our horn honking! We drove ahead to meet our guide who was to take us around the Taj Mahal. He wasn't the best guide any of us had met and towards the end we just wanted to get rid of him!
We first needed to buy our tickets and this is where things got interesting. Tickets for Indian citizens is 20 rupees, while foreigners need to pay 750 rupees! While Anant got away with the cheaper ticket, Pratik tried his best to convince the ticketing office that he was an Indian citizen. Unfortunately he didn't have any ID proof, so he was forced to pay 750 rupees. But this came with a bottle of water and shoe covers, which Indian citizens didn't get!
We then took a private rickshaw to the East gate of the Taj, and this is where the tour began. We saw the large, ornate main gate to the entrance of the Taj, and received a brief lesson on the Taj's history. Built by Shah Jahan (the 5th emperor in a long line of the illustrious Mughal dynasty), it is dedicated to his third wife Mumtaz Mahal who died at childbirth. The Taj is therefore a mausoleum where both Mumtaz and Shah Jahan are buried. It took an impressive 22 years, and all the builders hands were cut off to ensure another such monument was never made again!!
The Taj itself was breathtaking! It is deceptively large from afar. We walked up to the monument, taking numerous pictures on the way. A funny sight was a number of people took pictures of themselves pretending to touch the top of the Taj as an illusion. Being a Sunday, it was mighty crowded but we managed to see all that we wanted to. We even caught a glimpse of a garden on the other side of the river, where it is rumored that Shah Jahan wanted to build a replica of the Taj in black marble (but couldn't because he died).
Vantage point
Mosque
Classic
West Entrance to the Taj
Pratik & Brock
The Team
After spending 2 hours at the Taj, we went to a cottage industry showroom where marble furniture and artwork was available for sale. Seeing as everything in sight was super expensive, we left to eat at the "Taj Mahal" restaurant. Within an hour, we were on our way back to Delhi, and we quizzed the driver more on his thoughts about healthcare in India. This was possibly our most extensive interview. Doctors paint a very different picture from what the majority of India really faces!
After a brief stop at the hotel, we were at the Delhi airport, ready to fly to Hyderabad. We had a brief American moment at McDonalds (a break from all the rich, filling yet awesome Indian food we had been having so far). We landed in Hyderabad at 9 PM and were in the hotel by 10:30. That concludes our 3 day stint in the capital city!
