India Travel 7 Drive to Agra

The long and crazy drive from New Delhi to Agra (Taj Mahal) The was the last policeman we saw until Agra. He was beautifully turned out and gave us a big smile. Police are not much in evidence in the countryside. We were involved in an accident on the trip, our driver Vikrum said "Police, What Police!" when Christine asked if we had to pull over to the side of the road and wait for the police. Sort it out yourselves is the rule in India

Trucks are highly decorated - all hand painted. This motorcycle driver was wearing a helment, one of the few helmets we saw. We did see as many as 4 adult males and a family of 5 on individual machines. Motorcycles are everywhere weaving in and out of traffic; a good way to get around. However, Scott (who was made to sit in the front seat) was going nuts trying not to be petrified at the speed of traffic. His right leg was stiff from "braking" for 5 hours. Vikrum started to tease Scott and told him that braking was HIS job!

The huts on the roadside are for drying & curing the cow dung/straw mixture discs used for fuel in the countryside. We saw women carrying huge bowls of dung on their head. They took it to the fields where another woman mixed and shaped the discs. Vickum told us that they do not smell when burned. Our reaction was "yeah, right!"

Can you count the people in this vehicle? It is a Tuk-Tuk, a three-wheeled vehicle that delivers any type of cargo. We saw them with as many as 16 people. The open-air top might not have been the safest seat, but probably the least "fragrant".

Yes, those are monkeys crossing the road. At least these ones were on leases, but most monkeys roam freely and have become a menace. However, as there is a specific Hindu God of Monkeys, the debate rages on how to control these revered but aggressive animals. Note the number of pedestrians on this 4-lane highway, people walk out in front of traffic constantly

That is a cobra and he really did come up out of the basket when the man began to play music

Yes, that is a cow in the middle of the road. We saw them sleeping in the road and taking up entire lanes.

A family of 6 shares the back of a tuk-tuk; she looked tired, but the father seems happy. There is a tuk-tuk coming at us on the right; you can see the size of the vehicle.

Akbar The Great's mausoleum (3rd Mogul ruler) stands in a huge garden area of 150 acres about 7 km outside of Agra. These deer were happily feeding and cattle egrets are enjoying the insects the deer flush out for them. First pastoral scene we saw all day...

The is Sikandara, Akbar's tomb in red sandstone. It took 11 years to build - highly carved and mosaic in the first 3 stores and white marble towers. Originally it had huge sandlewood doors and the roof was decorated with silver and gold, all taken by the Jats during their short rule. The upper story of the gate has a 'Naubat Khana; from where the big kettle drums were played from morning to evening to honor the dead emperor

The drive to Agra and once again our heads were on a swivel! We thought that the congestion would clear out as we left Dehli behind... Wrong! The highway system is a patchwork of roads constantly changing from 2 lanes to 4 lanes and driving through center of towns. Berms have been taken over by shopkeepers and turned into market stalls. Although the road may be in fairly good condition, the sheer number of vehicles AND animals sharing the roads made progress slow at best. Christine refused to sit in the front seat and risked certain motion sickness from 6 hours of the start-stop, start-stop method of driving.

Along the journey we were involved in a bus/4-car accident. Scott saw 2 extremely small cars driving TOWARD the bus that was just ahead of us. Scott is desperately braking (so was our driver) and Scott is saying "cars, cars coming at us." The bus was not able to stop and plowed both cars up into the median. Our car hit the back of the bus and the car behind us hit us. Apparently this is not an unusual occurance because Vikrum pulls over to the side and hops out. He inspect the metal bars installed on both ends of the cars and gets back in and drives off. Christine is concerned because the police have not come to fill out the accident report; Vikrum laughs!

5 Miles down the road is a enormous traffic jam (once again NO police). We sat in gridlock for about 1/2 hour as each car, motorcycle, bicycle, bus and truck attempts to gain an inch progress forward. Finally, a civilian comes to the middle of the congested intersection and sorts us all out. Amazing, the vast majority of the drivers were willing to follow someone else's instructions to fix the problem and get moving again.

We stop for lunch at a tacky replical of an Indian palace (think tourist trap). We approach a man sitting on the ground and he offers to make the cobra come out of the basket (for a price, to course). It was pretty interesting to witness a snake charmer; this episode is pictured above. Cannot tell you how many times we stopped for cows in the road, some cows were walking across and others were actually sleeping with all these vehicle passing by. A memorable sight was the 3 cows running fast toward us. Cows must know they have the upper hand because vehicles are scattering to get out of their way. It was utter-ly amazng sight.

As we approached the city of Agra, we saw markets selling inlaid marble and we knew the Taj Mahal was close at hand. Our hotel, The Jaypee Palace, was a large complex of beautiful buildings - conference center, restaurants, big hotel, lovely rooms, gorgeous grounds and a swimming pool. The car was again checked before we entered the compound and we were screened as well. The Indian Government takes a pro-active approach to terrorism and no one complains about excessive searches. There is an offical greeter at the door, but right behind him is a guard with a gun. We may have found Indian less that sanitary (that is another blog), but we always felt safe.

Horns are used very differently in India. If you are honked at it is to let you know that a vehicle is near you. Trucks have signs on the back that instruck "Horn Please" to make the driver aware of your presence. If you are honked at it is not an insult in any way. Vikrum gave us the rule of "Good Horn, Good Prayer, Good Luck" approach to driving. He also said there is only 1 rule to driving and that is that there are no rules...

Hope you are enjoy this travel diary of our experiences in India, Scott & Christine