A local guide in Agra convinced us to hire him for the day and he’d show us the sites. Since our Lonely Planet was taken on the train, we decided this wouldn’t be a terrible investment. First stop was the Taj Mahal at sunrise. Sunrise; however, was nonexistent because of the smog so instead it was just the Taj Mahal really early, which was still nice because there were no crowds. 35,000 people per day (mostly Indians) visit this world wonder, but over one million came for this past weekend to celebrate Shah Jejan’s birthday and enjoy free entry. 
To be a tomb, the monument is quite impressive. Every aspect of its design is meticulously symmetrical except for one flaw. Shah Jejan was imprisoned after building the Taj for his wife’s cenotaph because of its outrageous price. He died before building his tomb and is therefore placed beside his wife (who is in the center) which offsets the balance of his strategic masterpiece. There is rumor that Shah Jejan cut off the arms and stabbed the eyes of the 22,000 people who built the Taj Mahal so that it could not be reproduced or outdone; however, we learned this was false and that the laborers were actually paid quite well. The marble monument took 20 years to complete—all for love (gag). Here we were also introduced to the odd trend of men wanting to take their pictures with us. One would shyly approach us and request just one photo, but then 15 of them would line up and begin the rotation as we stood there and smiled like Mickey Mouse. We were in at least 50 pictures by the end of the day.
The rest of Agra was a shopping nightmare. He took us to a carpet-making cottage industry where we got to see the process from design to wool spinning to the tying of knots, cleaning, and trimming. 288 knots per square inch is the desired amount for a quality, handmade carpet. The operation is subsidized by the government and gives jobs to local villagers outside of Agra. Then the made entertained us with Chai and soda in the carpet-viewing room where we wondered how to escape without buying one. No worries though, Katie took one for the team and broke down to buy a wall-hanging rug. The high-pressure selling techniques and guilt trips are not for the soft-hearted. Now it was Brady’s turn. We were then taken to a marble inlay shop where we watched another demonstration and thrown into another sales pitch—this time for a $2,000 table. The technique; however, was the same used to build the Taj Mahal, which was interesting to see on a smaller scale. Brady managed to tiptoe out by reluctantly purchasing a small marble carving of a Hindu deity. For some reason everyone here thinks we have tons of money to spend. Perhaps this is why the begging children tap and touch us for urgent attention. There are no road rules here so a couple times we even drove down the wrong way honking our horn at oncoming traffic. Additionally, at any given moment there is one or more of the following causing some sort of traffic jam and reason to honk: auto-rickshaws, buses, children, tractors, donkeys, cars, motorcycles, bikes, carts, cows, camels...you name it. After paying almost $50 in entry fees, we joked that we had been “rupeed” (a play on words with the date rape drug). Other stops included Agra Fort and Itimadud-Daula, which is known as the “baby Taj”. It was a long and intense first day so we made it an early night. Our cue to leave Agra was the following day when our driver and gem-scamming travel agent propositioned us to stay longer (2 separate times) for inappropriate reasons. The advice for women to wear a fake wedding in India is a good one, but unfortunately won’t stop most men from trying or at least giving a dirty look.
To be a tomb, the monument is quite impressive. Every aspect of its design is meticulously symmetrical except for one flaw. Shah Jejan was imprisoned after building the Taj for his wife’s cenotaph because of its outrageous price. He died before building his tomb and is therefore placed beside his wife (who is in the center) which offsets the balance of his strategic masterpiece. There is rumor that Shah Jejan cut off the arms and stabbed the eyes of the 22,000 people who built the Taj Mahal so that it could not be reproduced or outdone; however, we learned this was false and that the laborers were actually paid quite well. The marble monument took 20 years to complete—all for love (gag). Here we were also introduced to the odd trend of men wanting to take their pictures with us. One would shyly approach us and request just one photo, but then 15 of them would line up and begin the rotation as we stood there and smiled like Mickey Mouse. We were in at least 50 pictures by the end of the day.The rest of Agra was a shopping nightmare. He took us to a carpet-making cottage industry where we got to see the process from design to wool spinning to the tying of knots, cleaning, and trimming. 288 knots per square inch is the desired amount for a quality, handmade carpet. The operation is subsidized by the government and gives jobs to local villagers outside of Agra. Then the made entertained us with Chai and soda in the carpet-viewing room where we wondered how to escape without buying one. No worries though, Katie took one for the team and broke down to buy a wall-hanging rug. The high-pressure selling techniques and guilt trips are not for the soft-hearted. Now it was Brady’s turn. We were then taken to a marble inlay shop where we watched another demonstration and thrown into another sales pitch—this time for a $2,000 table. The technique; however, was the same used to build the Taj Mahal, which was interesting to see on a smaller scale. Brady managed to tiptoe out by reluctantly purchasing a small marble carving of a Hindu deity. For some reason everyone here thinks we have tons of money to spend. Perhaps this is why the begging children tap and touch us for urgent attention. There are no road rules here so a couple times we even drove down the wrong way honking our horn at oncoming traffic. Additionally, at any given moment there is one or more of the following causing some sort of traffic jam and reason to honk: auto-rickshaws, buses, children, tractors, donkeys, cars, motorcycles, bikes, carts, cows, camels...you name it. After paying almost $50 in entry fees, we joked that we had been “rupeed” (a play on words with the date rape drug). Other stops included Agra Fort and Itimadud-Daula, which is known as the “baby Taj”. It was a long and intense first day so we made it an early night. Our cue to leave Agra was the following day when our driver and gem-scamming travel agent propositioned us to stay longer (2 separate times) for inappropriate reasons. The advice for women to wear a fake wedding in India is a good one, but unfortunately won’t stop most men from trying or at least giving a dirty look.
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