Change In Plans

CLASSIC

Greetings from Agra, home of the Taj Mahal and a whole lot more. This post is about our time in Agra outside of seeing the Taj Mahal.

After visiting the Taj Mahal yesterday morning, we had a full day of exploring Agra. We had a handsome, lushly bearded local guide named Bilal, who asked that we call him “Haji.” He had gone to Mecca in 2003, when he was 42, and had taken on the honorific title of the pilgrim. Everywhere that we went, people shouted “Haji!” and smiled and waved. Three of his twelve brothers and sisters (and the eldest of his eight children) work in and around the Taj Mahal.

At the Taj Mahal, Haji was exceptionally good. His knowledge about, and passion for the monument were amazing. Several times, he took India’s (the person’s) camera, and posed us for the best shots.

CLASSIC HAJI-POSED SHOT

Later, Haji took us to a marble-inlay demonstration workshop in Agra. A row of young men sat and chiseled out floral patterns in table-sized marble slabs. Another row of young men sat and manually rotated “emery wheels,” which they used to shape tiny slivers of colored semi-precious stone. A host showed us how these inlays of all colors would be fixed into the marble carving with a centuries-old secret glue recipe.

Most of the craftsmen are members of the extended Shiraz family, who worked on the Taj Mahal itself 350 years ago. Boys are apprenticed for eight years,starting at about age 16. They concentrate on only a few of the classical designs until they are about 45, then they are skilled enough to make their own designs. 

CRAFTSMEN AT WORK

After seeing how the inlays were made, our host invited us into a show room full of beautiful tables, vases, trays, and chess boards. The overhead lights were dimmed, and the translucent marble of an ornate table top was illuminated to dramatic effect from underneath. Our host demonstrated the marble’s durability by dropping a table top onto its base from 6-8 inches (BANG!), and demonstrated its stain resistance by pouring Coke onto it. He assured us that it was easy and safe (and tax free!) to ship these heavy objects to the U.S. At this point, Tallulah leaned over and whispered loudly in my ear: “Let’s buy one!”

We looked for a while, and the tables were beautiful. Having no home, however, it made no sense to spend a lot of money on a table top.

After a dozen rounds of “Sorry, no thank you” followed by “But sir, have you considered …?”, our host opened the previously hidden door into another huge show room of smaller jewelry boxes and knick knacks. Ushering us in, he said, “Perhaps you would be interested in something smaller?”

We escaped fifteen minutes later, with Tallulah clutching an alabaster mini-Taj Mahal in a small gift box. I felt lucky to be only $8 poorer after all that.

From the marble store, Haji took us to a “special museum,” behind a high wall and steel gate. I was slightly suspicious when I noticed the “Koh-i-Noor Jewelers” sign on the museum door. Inside was a ground-floor display of three-dimensional tapestries. Silk thread was tied into elaborate geometric patterns, or pictures of birds and flowers. By building up thread, and bulging it away from the surface, the third dimension was added to the scenes.

We were led from the main gallery into a darkened room, with an opaque display case and several cloth sheets hanging from the walls. A small man, named Abhijay Kumar, followed us in with a device that looked like a huge TV remote control.

As Abhijay spoke to us about the art of three-dimensional tapestry, he pushed a button on the remote. The opaque display case became transparent, and a beautiful 200-year old robe was revealed. Then, Abhijay talked about the great masterpieces of three-dimensional tapestry, and one by one, as if by magic, the sheets rolled up into the walls, revealing backlit display cases with priceless tapestries within. Each new display was accompanied by different, thematically appropriate, soft music. The last display, the piece de resistance of a great silk tapestrist’s long career, was a huge scene of Christ on a hillside, surrounded by lambs. Slightly strange from a Muslim artist in central India, but nice to look at.

Overall, the craftsmanship and sheer physical effort were remarkable, and the slick remote-control light and sound show was the coolest. 3-D tapestry is not really our style, but we can appreciate it.

When we finished, Abhijay said, “As long as you are here, why don’t you come upstairs and see our 300-year-old emerald necklace?”. Of course, the emerald necklace was in the middle of a giant jewelry showroom, with thousands of necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, and brroches for sale. Zola desperately wanted to get his grandmother some earrings, but I gently insisted that we see the old emerald necklace and get out of there.

I had to laugh as we finally escaped to our mini-bus, and went back to the hotel for lunch. I think the average foreign tourist in Agra must be richer than us, and/or more excited about spending money on marble objects and jewelry.

After a short lunch and a long swim (Tallulah is now letting me launch her like a little cannonball in the pool), we went to tour the Agra Fort in the late afternoon. Incidentally, the old moat in front of the fort is half filled with very nasty looking water, and stinks a little.

The historical plaque outside reads, plainly “Agra Fort is the most important fort in India.” The plaque writer asserts that all other forts were less significant because the Mughal Emperors stayed at Agra, and they “ruled the country” from there. This is a strange interpretation of history: the Mughals never controlled more than about 40% of present-day India.

ZOLA AT AGRA FORT

Nevertheless, the fort was nice to look at. Haji related the history of the drunken emperor, Jehangir, who planted vineyards in the palace gardens. We saw the rooms where Shah Jehan lived out his eight years of house arrest, imposed by his son, and the window from which he could look at his beloved Taj Mahal.
Between traffic and tourism fatigue, we didn’t make it to any of the other sights in Agra. Probably our loss, but perhaps we will be back.

This morning we are driving back up to Delhi, saying goodbye to Indrajit, and flying down to Cochin, on the southwest coast of Kerala State. Agra was a wonderful part of our trip.