Agra- Day 3
We decide to take an excursion to another fort, Fatephur
Sikri, about 30 km distant, an hour’s drive. Ashok drives and upon arrival, we are met by a young man,
Ali, who Ashok assures us is a ‘good guide.’ Okay – we’ll try this.
This fort was the center of power for Shah Jai Singh, a rather interesting guy, circa 18th century. He had three 'main' wives - one Hindu, one Muslim, and one Christian! None of these wives could provide him with an heir until, miracle of miracles, the Muslim wife produced an heir. Mmmm . . . we looked at each other and grinned. There were a whole lot of horses and a whole lot of riders in the shah's entourage . . .
The pool in the center of the royal yard; the wives and concubines could cool off here (fully clothed of course).
Tim told the guide straightaway ‘Keep the touts away from us! We don’t want to buy anything.’ Ali was pretty well-informed but insisted on talking to us as if we were hard of hearing! Tour groups across the pavilion could probably hear his commentary.
This series of arches went on and on and on, all perfectly aligned.
Some really interesting features in this fort included elaborate sandstone support structures. and the most unusual corridors. No doubt many of these design features were for cooling; temps in Agra and the surrounding countryside reach 45 celsius (that's about 120F) with humidity close to 90%.
Well that’s when things went sour. First he takes us to a part of the temple where workmen sell fabric ‘for charity’ – right! When Tim tells him ‘NO’ then he directs us to his ‘family’ display of stonework. Well Tim lost it! ‘Take us back – NOW!’ It was a bit tense but we made it back to the parking lot where we told Ashok how displeased we were and not to recommend this young man again. He was profusely apologetic and they negotiated a new ‘fee’ for the guide.
Sweet ending to our stay. There was some confusion about Vanda and Craig’s transport
to Ranthambore (the Nature Park and Tiger Preserve) and they ended up on a dirt track in a field with a crazed taxi
driver! They were pretty upset and on their way back to the home stay.
Ranjana was beside herself. She
came to Tim, trembling, and asked him ‘As the senior member of the household, would you
explain to them how sorry I am, please, please.’ Of course he said yes and no harm done. Ranjana paid for the driver, gave them
a free night’s stay and arranged new transport for the next day. Then she needed a bunch of hugs from
me! She even knocked on our door
before going to bed, just to get a hug!!
Leena (daughter, left) and Ranjana.
When we were getting ready to leave early the next morning,
she said ‘Will you come back for my daughter’s wedding? You stay here with me, for free, for 6
months!’ I guess I’ve been adopted
as her mother!! A photo
of what I’ve dubbed the ‘loaves and fishes kitchen.’ She prepared meals for up to 20 people (yes, there were two
seatings on our last night there – people had come just for dinner!) in this
kitchen which was about the size of our powder room!!
On to Jaipur on Indian Rail.
PS - I'm writing this a couple of days later. Just had an email from Vanda - they saw two (TWO) tigers at Ranthambore, just 20 feet from the jeep track!
