Friday 2 November 2007

Delhi-Agra Trip. Day 3: Saturday

*Yawn* It's friggin' 7 in the morning, and we have to get ready for the long day ahead. It's nearly daybreak! We all drag ourselves to the shower and get ready- not together of course! Heh.
I throw together some stuff- shades, water, a bottle with some leftover Coke, and camera, and we head for the car. Bitta drives at 40 km/hr as usual. Our stomachs are rumbling with hunger- we haven't had breakfast, so we tell him to stop at a dhaba. But he drives on- he never stops for anything or anyone. Finally we do manage to stop at a dhaba. Yaay! There are cute rabbits in a makeshift hutch.. Or should I be saying Vodafone? Heh. Sad joke, sorry. We have aloo parathas and rather spicy stuffed aloo, and then we're on our way!
It's an unbelievably long drive, but we see lots of interesting things on the way- a protest march in Chandigarh, camels in Uttar Pradesh, you get my point. We break the monotony by taking rather self-obsessed snaps of ourselves, listening to music, gossipping about random stuff under the sun, ragging Guppy...
The drive is supposed to be a 4 hour long one, and we reach in 5 and a 1/2! All thanks to Bitta. The line inside is LONG. We have to buy tickets, I have to give up my bag- too many formalities.
I squeak and giggle when the female bodyguard checks me for weapons- read: feels me up.
And we're finally inside!
On a serious note, I'm pretty blank about the walk to the Taj Mahal. The sight of the monument just erased most of the memories. All I remember is us walking towards it, and catching glimpses of something big and pale and white in the far distance. And then we were in front of it.
It's beautiful. It's something everyone should see. Many of us can't go to Paris, some of us aren't able to see the Pyramids, but the Taj Mahal is a different story. It's more accessible than most. For those of you who have seen it, you know what I'm talking about. For those of you who haven't seen it, DO GO. It's worth seeing. And I'm never one to heap praise where it isn't deserved.
The Taj Mahal is HUGE. We've come at a good time though- in summer, the marble burns beneath your feet. Right now, it feels quite cool. There's some restoration work going on. The Yamuna looks quite dried up. Guppy points out a dog supposedly bathing in the river. And then of course, there's the usual posing for photographs, smiling fake smiles that are supposed to be photogenic, et al.
We don't go inside though, much to my chagrin. We would like to, but the queue is too long, and we have to leave in a while if we want to get back to Delhi at a decent time.
What architecture! We call ourselves advanced with all our glass walls and Spanish tiles, but THAT'S what advancement was! The whole monument is just so well structured and balanced and planned. It's so carefully thought out.
It's wonderful. It's a legacy. Imagine having a monument built for you.
Saikat, if you're reading this... *hint hint*
We stop at the Taj Mahal museum for a brief five minutes. There are weapons of sorts, coins, and even the blueprint of the Taj Mahal. Most impressive.
And now it's time to set out again. Bitta drives faster this time- methinks he's in a hurry to get home. Wonder why. We stop at a dhaba, ask the boy to come to our table. He's in a hurry to get to another table, flashes what seems like the middle finger but turns out to be the index finger in a gesture to ask us to wait for a second. This time we have steaming hot tarka and roti.
We reach Delhi in 4 hours this time. Go Bitta!
After a quick dinner, it's time for bed. We're exhausted.
But it was a wonderful day.

24 comments:

Ephemera said...

Ah the taj my old friend, almost have forgotten about her...but i do remember that she looked like a graceful woman on the night i visited her...it was "poornima" and it was surreal with the yamuna murmuring in the back...

AbhijanB said...

you need to take a hint from namesake-the movie.

many people love their wives and girlfriends; just everyone cannot afford to build the Taj Mahal for their lovers.
*hint, hint*

Esmo said...

taj mahal....via agra,mans greatest ever erec....umm well u know the rest!!!!

AbhijanB said...

i dont know whether she got it, but i certainly got that.

fabulous one!!

Ephemera said...

Why???
Is she that tube light???

AbhijanB said...

well apparently not, cuz i found out that she did get it.

but then, girl who thinks a keepers name to be that of a football team is capable of anything dont you think?
:)

Ephemera said...

yes i agree...

AbhijanB said...

cool, so Tuna is outnumbered now.
Whaay!

Ephemera said...

:-DDDDDD
wer u guyz frm james?

AbhijanB said...

nope LMB.
not proud of it, but just sayin..

Esmo said...

i was...jo games!!!!!

Ephemera said...

@joe...k.. then do u kno wot's become of Gaurav?
Subhashish, Varsha, that loser Suman were very good friends of mine, Subhashish is in Bankura now...

@soumya...does Ronomit continue to be the gay he was?
wot about Shounak and that hijra Ryan?

Magically Bored said...

@ dream baron: How do you know so much about James? You're from DBPC, aren't you?

AbhijanB said...

@dream baron
i dont think i know for sure but gaurav might be in durgapur, but im telling you from now that this info is as authentic as mamata banerjee's english and her certificates.

Ephemera said...

SO??????????
wot if i am from Bosco? it forbids me to know about James?? :-DD
Well there is no fest in cal that i have not been to and ronomit was tuition mate in class 10 or so...
i know a lot of other people from other schools as well...
hey, you are from ashok hall, arent you?
in my lat year we had this incredible english teacher from there.. Mrs. Saswati Chatterjee a truly remarkable lady,
and i think Swati Morarka was your batchmate??

Magically Bored said...

Uff. I didn't say you were forbidden from knowing people from other schools- touchy touchy!
I know loads of guys from James too, that's why. In fact, I am dating one. An ex-student, rather. That's not the point.
Yeah, I'm from Ashok Hall. Saswati Chatterjee? Doesn't ring a bell. We had a teacher called Saswati Majumdar, great teacher- but she taught Economics. Swati Murarka might have been from my batch, I might not know her. We had loads of new girls take admission in XI, so there was no time to know all of them.

Ephemera said...

just to know, how many guyz from our school do or did you know?

Magically Bored said...

From DBPC?
Not too many, I used to know this fellow called Arka Sengupta ages back- weird guy- don't even get me started on him.
And another guy whose pet name is Rick- I forget the 'bhalo naam'. I knew them both from tuition.
I was never that friendly with DBPC.
Why?

Ephemera said...

OH MY GOD!!!!!
u knew handy i mean arka?????
we dont even consider him a part of the bosco fraternity, and hell yes he aint just weird, he's stupid weird...wonder if he's alive,
hmmm...and wrick, nice fellow
never friendly with Bosco???
Hmmmmmmm...intersting...

Magically Bored said...

Well, yeah, Arka was a stupid fellow. What I had to go through, to escape him. He left after X, didn't he?
Are you on Facebook?

Esmo said...

2dream abron..rono has shocked us all by turnign straight..or maybe hes just pretending to be till the heats off
ryan ..the less said about him,the better
and which shounak??

Ephemera said...

the huge fat one...

Ephemera said...

And no i am not on facebook as its blocked in BITS...but i am registered as "zatgeist" in g-talk...

Magically Bored said...

That would be Shounak Das, the one who fell in the mud on Asthami. :P
@dream baron: Have added you.