Agra:The Red Fort

Agra --
At lunch at the Oberoi we take a break from our driver trying to guide us to his shops, from the dust and grit and chaos of the street to catch our breath literally. The view of the Taj from the Hotel Oberoi terrace starts at the treetops , obscuring the filthy crowded streets below -- a metaphor for "Shining India."



Agra Fort --We hire a guide and good thing too as it is a hide and seek labyrinth. The remains of opulence, rose water fountains, harems, artificial lakes, peacock throne, perfect perspective for the royal court (9th photo down on the right). Shah Jehan -- creator of the Taj Mahal -- ruled from this fort, which he surrounded with a moat with crocodiles and a forest with tigers. His son Aurangzeb overthrew him and imprisoned him here with a view of the Taj Mahal -- 8th and 10th photo on the right.
Exhausted, we eat sweets for an hour. We await our train in the dusk with mosquitoes swarming. Beggars are everywhere, crippled, legless, arms misplaced. A girl of 3 or 4 who could not get any dirtier or more pitiful begs on the platform. We have seen gypsies who are born, live and die by the side of the road in a space between the road and a wall. India is a snake, the saying goes, with its head in the 22nd Century and its tail in the 16th. The trailing edge of humanity, living to survive just for the (literal) hell of it.

The few women we have seen all day are colorful foreground to the uniformly drab background of swarming men in motion, always in motion.
India was ruled from Agra for years by the Shah and his son. Now, the good citizens of Agra cannot get it together to make it appealing for even a nights' stay. The destruction of the Mughal opulence is complete...and almost the memories as well...