The beauty of Taj Mahal is a legend and according to this newspaper report it still remains the biggest draw for the tourists coming to India.
But I wonder why do I have to get to the message boards to get the other side of the story. yes, people love the Taj but also advice to get out of the city after seeing it. As written by a poster at Indiamike:
“And Go On A Tour From Delhi Just To See The Taj And Agra Fort And Then Get The Heck Out Of Agra The Touts Will Kill You There Too. Absolutely Loved Everywhere Else We Visited In India.”
WoW…a beautifully captured shot!
Mridula, here is what I wrote after I went to Agra in 2005. It sounds a bit rude now:”I reached Agra early in the morning. It was very dirty, full of unclean, unfriendly looking people and paan stains all over. It was difficult to believe how a city proud of having a world wonder could be so chaotic and underdeveloped. The fort is maintained quite good (I guess because it is not managed by UP government) and the view of Taj Mahal from the Red Fort is stunning. We enjoyed the beauty of the Taj as much as possible by staying there for over five hours. Frankly, there was nothing else to do other than watching Taj and the visitors! The rest of the city sucked. From my limited exposure, I did not want to go out of the fence around the Taj. I spent another day in Agra, well, I just stayed indoors in the Youth Hostel dorm reading a book, chatting with people and having some delicious petha. Outdoors was simply obnoxious. Don’t ever attempt to take the auto-rikshaw, they are as un-trustworthy as their Delhi counterparts. The public transport run by private auto owners is the best. For mere 5 bucks I could travel across the city. Later that night I had to go back to Delhi and attempted to get into the impossibly crowded general class. A TC who saw the horrified look in my eyes and the extremely tired posture, helped me get into a sleeper coach (I had to ‘help’ him too!) Nevertheless, visiting Taj, atleast once in your lifetime is a must. Taj Mahal is truly mesmerizing, as for the city, well I hope they improve it. I think Delhi-Agra can progress like Mumbai-Pune or Bangalore-Mysore models, provided they are cooperative, not competitive.
Very nice picture, Loved it.. And interesting information that 67% foreigners come here for seeing Tajmahal and its better to get out of Agra after seeing this 🙂 funny
Kalyan, Thanks.Priyank, thanks for sharing. Sums up the scene pretty well.Pijush, when I also came across it for the first time, I found it difficult to believe it!
Never been there, but have been to places which may not be really clean….but for a traveller, living in such situations and understanding them becomes more important. What do people expect….. a barricade that seperates the poor from the sight of rich?
Great pic. Natural mowing…while mooing
Ajeya, I completely agree that it happens because of the socio-economic conditions. But as I had not read about anything like this around Taj, I was surprised. The second time, of course I knew what to expect.Osgeek, thank you.
mridula please send us a high res of this photo. We want to put this in our cafe, we are having a show with photos from India. Steve has made this his computer screen saver!
That’s a very, very eco-friendly lawn mowing system…No petrol, kerosene or diesel fumes at all…Free manure too, at times!:D
Max, hope you got my mail and could use the picture. Interesting to know that Steve is using it as a screen saver.Sidhu, I think this is because no petrol or diesel vehicles are allowed near the Taj!
Mridula…you always seem to have an interesting pic of the Taj…this one is good too.. 🙂