A friendly scam

I checked out of the hotel at around 5:45 and went to the East gate of the Taj Mahal, I wanted to be first in line! I was almost a bit disappointed to see there were no other people. Finally a couple got in line behind me, waiting for the ticket booth to open. Their clock ran ten minutes late, but at least they opened on time accordingly.

The mysterious black silhouette of the mausoleum rose into the dark gray morning sky. A prayer chant followed, unlocatable, all around.

With hardly any people on the site, no fountains running and long exposure times I could get some good shots of the monument. - Due to the fog there was no sunrise, the scene just got uniformly brighter. Then, at 8:20, the clouds parted a bit, and the white marble assumed the bright yellow color of the sun. Time for some more long shots before the fountains started running (and spoiling the reflection) 20 minutes later! The light wouldn't last long, so I decided to leave the enclosure and go for breakfast at Joney's.

When I returned afterwards I found the situation hadn't changed much, so I left again through the East gate. A herd of massive brown buffaloes came passing. A boy explained they were headed for a "shower", a bath in the river. I didn't follow but went the other way, taking pictures of the animals that trudged along spread out into several small groups. An animal at the very end of the herd suddenly stopped. It had spotted what appeared to be a calf, standing at around 50 meters off the street. The buffalo grunted loudly, then charged at the young cow, followed by the peasant that escorted the end of the procession. The bull stopped in front of the cow without getting a reaction. At this point the farmer had caught up with the runaway and used his bat to bring the bull back on track. The animal followed the command unwillingly at first, but then all of a sudden started running down the street after the rest of the herd, nudging over a parked moped. He eventually slowed down its pace a bit, just to surprisingly charge at terrified pedestrians here and there, with the cowboy trailing behind at quite a distance.

It was still foggy, and for the first time on my trip a couple of raindrops fell. I took a taxi to the Red Fort, where my first strike was to haggle down 4 AA batteries from 400 to 150 Rupees (I pretty much ended up changing the batteries daily). A guide offered his services, but I declined. I found there was ample information in the LP travel guide and on the signs on the campus. - The enclosure was enormous, rounding 2,5 kilometers in circumference, but only a corner of it contained buildings (the rest of the site was actually closed off to visitors due to maintenance), but really I can't even begin to imagine what it must have looked like with all the building still standing, before the English had destroyed them. The remaining buildings were featured a maze of rooms and halls of mixed architectural styles. Some parts for instance were extended with white marble by Taj builder Shah Jahan, who was finally imprisoned there by his son. - The gloomy fog only added to the mystic mood of the place.

Upon leaving the fort I felt like I had deserved a good lunch. I followed the recommendation of a slim and smiley cycle rickshaw guy and ended up in a rather noble place with a bamboo interior. The Mughal Chicken there was mild and tasty but not as rich as I expected. Anyway, it pleased my tummy so that was good. Premi the rickshaw guy had waited outside and wanted to bring me around some souvenir shops on the way back. He explained he would get commission even if I didn't buy anything. He played with open cards, and I liked that. Besides, I had no other plans and the weather wasn't too inviting, so what the hay. I entered the shop with absolutely no intention of buying anything, but then I was impressed by the quality of the bedspreads, pillow covers and the silk scarves. I had hardly seen anything like it during my stay in India. I pondered a long time while the shop assistants kept spreading more and more stuff on the floor for evaluation. Finally I took a decision and haggled hard, starting with a very low price in order to then raise my offer, but including more items. However, this seller turned the table. While I would usually turn my back and walk away in order to have the seller run after me with a cheaper offer, now he played offended and started packing up his merchandise when I told him my final offer. In the end I couldn't get below 20% off. - And the same thing happened at the next store: I couldn't think of anything I wanted to buy nor did I want to spend any more money, but then the stuff here was even nicer! I felt I could have haggled a lot better (the seller's ready-to-shake-hand darted forward a bit all to quickly when I told him my final price), but I was already quite worn. - Premi told me he would get 2% commission off my purchase. I was actually happy for him.

These cities of the north sure had some elaborate scams in stock, I read about some that can really get you in trouble. On the other hand I enjoyed how Jaipur and Agra weren't too crowded. There was definitely a lot of pollution, but compared to Mumbai the air seemed a lot fresher.

After yet another meal at Joney's I went to the hotel to pick up my suitcase. A young couple from England, Rory and Bonny, were heading for the 20:30 train to Delhi too, so we shared a motor rickshaw. The train was late again. While we waited on the platform there were several power blackouts and countless beggar kids. In the darkness they could have easily emptied the fruit seller's stand, but they didn't. I thought that was remarkable.

My hotel in Delhi was within walking distance from the train station, so I could proudly stride past all the taxi wallahs (the first taxi driver actually wouldn't wait for people to get off the train but came on and tried to sell his services while people were leaving). Along the way there were even people trying to hook me up with "cheap" hotels. They didn't understand when I told them I had already paid for my room, which was actually true, but it somehow shut them up. By the way, the room was basically the same price as the one I had in Mumbai. Both were central, came with AC and breakfast. But here the market was really saturated indeed. Almost every building along the street was a hotel, and when mine came along it was by far the best deal I had on my trip: Tightly fitted marble from the lobby to the top. You could choose between a stylish spiral staircase and a glass elevator on the outside of the building. Lots of efficient, professional staff, with cleaners ceaselessly cleaning in circles. In this world everything was brand new.