Taj Mahal - like a boss

"Agra, Agra!" I heard through my deep sleep. A man was standing over me, but hurriedly exited the train when he saw I had awoken - we had arrived. As our shivering selves departed from the station on Monday morning, we found Taj Mahal's hometown covered in mist. The first thing that struck us was the aggressiveness of the local rickshaw drivers. Through India we have gotten used to hollering cabdrivers, but I guess the 3 million annual tourists (tripling the local population) have made the competition and greed reach new heights.

We arrived at Kamal Guest house after repeatedly denying the driver's suggestions to take us to other places where he, no doubt, would have received a commission. The morning fog lifted and we had breakfast at Kamal's rooftop restaurant. With the beautiful view over Taj Mahal, the long awaited destination felt suddenly close, like we could just reach out and touch it. The surrounding area, known as Taj Ganj, resembled more a small town than a large city with its small alleys and the 500 meter car-free zone around Taj Mahal.

Alternative means of transportation dominated the Taj-vicinity,
such as cycle-rickshaws, electric taxis, and dromedaries.

To avoid the crowds, we decided to wait with the main attraction till Tuesday morning and fled from the street vendors and cab drivers through a serene park which led us to Agra's fantastic Mughal fort. Emperor Akbar (not Admiral, for the Star Wars fans out there) rebuilt this old fort and made it his palace when Agra became the capital of his empire in 1558. It was later expanded by his grandson, Shah Jahan, and became Shah's prison when he was overthrown by his power-hungry son Aurangzeb. From his tower the imprisoned emperor would gaze upon his favorite wife's newly finished mausoleum: the Taj Mahal. The fort's splendor will forever be overshadowed by the world famous Taj, but the complex' many beautiful palaces and audience halls were nevertheless well worth a visit.

There were like separate 16 palaces inside the fort.

And the squirrels were cool too.

After exploring the refreshingly tourist-free shops of Sadar Bazaar we ended the night at Yash Cafe, which also claimed to show movies at the guests' demand. Through the proprietors' rather loud conversation, we barely caught the story of (Stephanie Meyers', as it later turned out) "The Host". The movie, whose plot admittedly had potential, was rather daftly executed, and we left before the end.

An early rise on Tuesday secured a view unobscured by the masses of the picture-perfect Taj. Only the Japanese photo-pros shared the grounds with us - we are truly perfecting the art of tourism.

What's that? Oh, that's just one of the seven modern wonders of the world behind me.

Many faaar better writers than me have tried to describe the beauty of the Taj Mahal so I won't even try, but suffice to say we were extremely pleased with our visit. Our satisfaction was even more enhanced when, as we sat down for our rooftop breakfast, the skies opened and pouring rain came down on us. Imagine if we had postponed our visit just an hour more! With light spirits and mission accomplished we decided to take a much needed break, and spent the rest of the rainy day in various restaurants playing chess, watching movies, reading and of course eating delicious food, before hopping on our night train to Varanasi.