Taj Mahal
(Continued from Part III of this post series)
It was a Monday and the Christmas day. We got up very early in the morning, got ready and had our breakfast at the hotel. The idea was to reach the Taj Mahal before 8 am. We were told that the queue grows exponentially after that time. Our Hotel was only about a kilometer from the East Gate and the car dropped us midway from where we had to walk down.
The East Gate, we were told is the best to enter the monument and is called by some as the VIP gate. There are two other gates, West and South. We noticed some Bharatpur style rickshaws (see the previous post) ferrying tourists from the parking lot to the Gate, but chose to walk down.
To our surprise the queue was already almost quarter of a kilometer long when we reached the gate. We noticed a separate queue for ladies. It was serpentine bending back on itself several times, while the queue for men was straight. This gave us an impression that perhaps the ladies' queue was shorter and we asked the ladies to wait on some chairs lying in the lane and to join their queue a little later.
The queue moved quite slowly. Our spirits further sagged when the person behind us narrated the story of his visit the previous day. He had had to return his tickets after a long long wait in the queue. As the queue kept growing, we noticed some commotion ahead of us. It was on account of people trying to jump the queue.
Then it occurred to us that we had the e-tickets only on one phone and we needed to put it on one more phone as the ladies will be in a separate queue. It seems that they have jammers installed in that area and internet was not working on any of our phones. It took many attempts to transfer the file through Bluetooth, but we finally did succeed. And the ladies joined their queue as we approached it.
As we approached the gate, queue jumping was becoming all too frequent. A couple of policemen standing nearby paid no attention to the scuffles and we had to fend off the intruders in our vicinity ourselves as well as we could. My elder grandson remarked that in the USA one can be tasered by the police for such indiscipline.
It took two full hours to enter and clear the security check at the East Gate and then nearly another hour for ladies to join us because of our miscalculation of the length of the serpentine ladies' queue. From their accounts it seemed that queue jumping was even more rampant in the ladies section.
The main entrance of the Taj is opposite the South Gate. The three gates open into a compound in which the missing North Gate forms the entrance to the monument. As you enter the main gate, there is a long verandah to either side of it (with a paid and well maintained toilet at the end of the right wing.)
The view of Taj as you enter is breathtaking and mesmerizing. Though when you finally get up-close, you the signs of ageing become all too apparent. But from afar, its beauty does cast a spell on the visitor.
Once inside, you are most likely to be accosted by, no, not a guide, but a professional photographer. We engaged one of them, and he turned out to be a good choice. Because of the huge crowds, getting a time slot on the benches best known for photos with Taj in the background is not an easy task. Our photographer was not only good in his profession but also quite persuasive and aggressive when it came to getting our place in the queue and enforcing it. After a rather drawn out photo session, he finally gave us the address of a shop beyond the South Gate from where to collect the deliverables.
The photographer also played a guide to us when asked about the two symmetrical red buildings flanking the Taj. He told us that one was a mosque and the other a guest house.
After the photo session, we joined another queue for visiting the main building and the tombs within. The queue was gargantuan and went around the Taj twice, once on the lower floor and then on the upper floor where you see the graves. (Some say that the real graves are on the lower floor and the ones on the upper floor are merely a replica for visitors.)
The queue was long and queue jumpers exasperating. Some did it brazenly, some on the sly, some by slipping a lie. Some were aggressive while jumping the queue while others were jovial. And the offenders ranged from 8 year old kids to very senior citizens! As we completed the circle on the lower floor, and climbed the stairs to the upper floor, we discovered that we had to go around the building once again. The high value ticket holders were allowed to go straight skipping the whole serpentine queue. Though I must admit that going around the building on the two floors did give us an opportunity to observe it in great detail, which many of the high value ticket holders chose to do later on their own. We also got to see repairs being carried out by artisans.
From up close on the upper floor, you notice the cracks and discoloration in the marble at several places. As I said earlier, these signs of ageing are visible only from up-close. The marble tiles on the terrace on the upper floor are in bad shape and need replacement at several places.
I did not mention earlier that before entering the main building, the Taj, you have to either deposit your shoes in safe custody or have to carry shoe covers. The covers are complimentary with high-value tickets. The normal ticket holders have an option to buy it from many vendors while waiting in the queue outside the main gate. We had purchased six pairs for ourselves and many others too had done so. However, these covers are so bad and flimsy that they are reduced to tatters by the time you go around the building in the queue. Many had discarded the covers on the terrace itself giving it a shabby look. Those who were more thoughtful were given an option to dispose it off in a receptacle at the exit from the main building.
We were tired and it was afternoon by the time we exited. My son went to the south gate to collect the photographs, and the rest of us exited from the East Gate. Across the road there was a shop selling memorabilia with a tea shop attached to it. We had samosas and tea and then did some shopping there. While doing so we discovered that prices paid by our group for some items at Fatehpur Sikri were a few times the price at which the shop offered it!
We walked back down to the car parking and started on our journey back to Lucknow.
PS: While purchasing the tickets online, we were under the impression that the high-value tickets were only for foreigners because that is what the website said. A high value ticket costs ₹1000 as against ₹40 for normal tickets. After the long queues that we faced, we made inquiries and were told that the high-value ticket can be purchased by anyone willing to shell out the prescribed amount. It may be advisable to go for the high-value tickets if you are not at the peak of fitness or don't have the whole day to spend at the Taj. Though, with the high-value ticket you do miss witnessing the funny, infuriating, innovative and in-your-face styles of jumping a queue. Also, many 1K ticket holders do take their time going round the monument afterwards convincing the low-value queued up visitors that they are not jumping the queue. This is something that the low-value ticket holders compulsorily do. The high-ticket buyers also get complementary shoe covers, a bottle of water and free access to the Public Toilet.
(Continued from Part III of this post series)
It was a Monday and the Christmas day. We got up very early in the morning, got ready and had our breakfast at the hotel. The idea was to reach the Taj Mahal before 8 am. We were told that the queue grows exponentially after that time. Our Hotel was only about a kilometer from the East Gate and the car dropped us midway from where we had to walk down.
The East Gate, we were told is the best to enter the monument and is called by some as the VIP gate. There are two other gates, West and South. We noticed some Bharatpur style rickshaws (see the previous post) ferrying tourists from the parking lot to the Gate, but chose to walk down.
To our surprise the queue was already almost quarter of a kilometer long when we reached the gate. We noticed a separate queue for ladies. It was serpentine bending back on itself several times, while the queue for men was straight. This gave us an impression that perhaps the ladies' queue was shorter and we asked the ladies to wait on some chairs lying in the lane and to join their queue a little later.
The queue moved quite slowly. Our spirits further sagged when the person behind us narrated the story of his visit the previous day. He had had to return his tickets after a long long wait in the queue. As the queue kept growing, we noticed some commotion ahead of us. It was on account of people trying to jump the queue.
Then it occurred to us that we had the e-tickets only on one phone and we needed to put it on one more phone as the ladies will be in a separate queue. It seems that they have jammers installed in that area and internet was not working on any of our phones. It took many attempts to transfer the file through Bluetooth, but we finally did succeed. And the ladies joined their queue as we approached it.
As we approached the gate, queue jumping was becoming all too frequent. A couple of policemen standing nearby paid no attention to the scuffles and we had to fend off the intruders in our vicinity ourselves as well as we could. My elder grandson remarked that in the USA one can be tasered by the police for such indiscipline.
It took two full hours to enter and clear the security check at the East Gate and then nearly another hour for ladies to join us because of our miscalculation of the length of the serpentine ladies' queue. From their accounts it seemed that queue jumping was even more rampant in the ladies section.
The main entrance of the Taj is opposite the South Gate. The three gates open into a compound in which the missing North Gate forms the entrance to the monument. As you enter the main gate, there is a long verandah to either side of it (with a paid and well maintained toilet at the end of the right wing.)
The view of Taj as you enter is breathtaking and mesmerizing. Though when you finally get up-close, you the signs of ageing become all too apparent. But from afar, its beauty does cast a spell on the visitor.
Once inside, you are most likely to be accosted by, no, not a guide, but a professional photographer. We engaged one of them, and he turned out to be a good choice. Because of the huge crowds, getting a time slot on the benches best known for photos with Taj in the background is not an easy task. Our photographer was not only good in his profession but also quite persuasive and aggressive when it came to getting our place in the queue and enforcing it. After a rather drawn out photo session, he finally gave us the address of a shop beyond the South Gate from where to collect the deliverables.
The photographer also played a guide to us when asked about the two symmetrical red buildings flanking the Taj. He told us that one was a mosque and the other a guest house.
After the photo session, we joined another queue for visiting the main building and the tombs within. The queue was gargantuan and went around the Taj twice, once on the lower floor and then on the upper floor where you see the graves. (Some say that the real graves are on the lower floor and the ones on the upper floor are merely a replica for visitors.)
The queue was long and queue jumpers exasperating. Some did it brazenly, some on the sly, some by slipping a lie. Some were aggressive while jumping the queue while others were jovial. And the offenders ranged from 8 year old kids to very senior citizens! As we completed the circle on the lower floor, and climbed the stairs to the upper floor, we discovered that we had to go around the building once again. The high value ticket holders were allowed to go straight skipping the whole serpentine queue. Though I must admit that going around the building on the two floors did give us an opportunity to observe it in great detail, which many of the high value ticket holders chose to do later on their own. We also got to see repairs being carried out by artisans.
From up close on the upper floor, you notice the cracks and discoloration in the marble at several places. As I said earlier, these signs of ageing are visible only from up-close. The marble tiles on the terrace on the upper floor are in bad shape and need replacement at several places.
I did not mention earlier that before entering the main building, the Taj, you have to either deposit your shoes in safe custody or have to carry shoe covers. The covers are complimentary with high-value tickets. The normal ticket holders have an option to buy it from many vendors while waiting in the queue outside the main gate. We had purchased six pairs for ourselves and many others too had done so. However, these covers are so bad and flimsy that they are reduced to tatters by the time you go around the building in the queue. Many had discarded the covers on the terrace itself giving it a shabby look. Those who were more thoughtful were given an option to dispose it off in a receptacle at the exit from the main building.
We were tired and it was afternoon by the time we exited. My son went to the south gate to collect the photographs, and the rest of us exited from the East Gate. Across the road there was a shop selling memorabilia with a tea shop attached to it. We had samosas and tea and then did some shopping there. While doing so we discovered that prices paid by our group for some items at Fatehpur Sikri were a few times the price at which the shop offered it!
We walked back down to the car parking and started on our journey back to Lucknow.
PS: While purchasing the tickets online, we were under the impression that the high-value tickets were only for foreigners because that is what the website said. A high value ticket costs ₹1000 as against ₹40 for normal tickets. After the long queues that we faced, we made inquiries and were told that the high-value ticket can be purchased by anyone willing to shell out the prescribed amount. It may be advisable to go for the high-value tickets if you are not at the peak of fitness or don't have the whole day to spend at the Taj. Though, with the high-value ticket you do miss witnessing the funny, infuriating, innovative and in-your-face styles of jumping a queue. Also, many 1K ticket holders do take their time going round the monument afterwards convincing the low-value queued up visitors that they are not jumping the queue. This is something that the low-value ticket holders compulsorily do. The high-ticket buyers also get complementary shoe covers, a bottle of water and free access to the Public Toilet.
