India-Day 5-Delhi to Agra

We ended our stay in Delhi by visiting the Gandhi Smirti: which is the place where Gandhi stayed when in Delhi, and where he was assassinated. There were countless quotes and plaques around the lawn and garden, which had footsteps tracing his last steps. They also had the actual glasses and cane that Gandhi was wearing/using as he died-which were really cool to check out. We took a break from Delhi’s crazy, loud, and dirty streets to walk around Lodi Park. After choking up the dust in the back of an auto-rickshaw, it was nice to walk amongst the picnicking families, birds chirping, and guys playing a pick-up game of cricket. The aforementioned auto-rickshaws are an institution of their own in India. Their incredible convenience (due to their ubiquity) is the best part about them. They can be really cheap. Key word: can. This is because, if you’re a foreigner, getting a reasonable price for a rickshaw requires a whole lot of haggling. Almost every auto-rickshaw driver either refuses to use the meter or lies and says it doesn’t work. I actually prefer the outright refusal, as it spares me having to feign belief. Luckily, Anapalm had kind of ballparked the fares for o couple of common destinations, so we had some knowledge other tourists might not. But that didn’t prevent the drivers from quoting us some absolutely ridiculous prices. Danthemanstan doesn’t really enjoy haggling, and is generally willing to pay more to avoid it; but those of you that know me know I 1. thrive in confrontations 2. am pretty cheap 3)am not afraid to offend. So, I had a fairly good time going back and forth with the auto-rickshaw drivers of Delhi. At the rare chance it happened, Danthemanstan and I were always surprisingly delighted when we would hop in, say the destination, and the driver just flipped the meter.

After yet another haggle, we went to one of Delhi’s train stations to take the train to Agra. We were surprised by the really low amount of security at the train stations; as all the metro stations, malls, and movie theaters require bags to be scanned and a pat down. The train platform was crowded, dirty, smelly, and full of garbage-luckily we didn’t have to wait very long. As our train rolled in, people were hopping on (note: train is still moving) as they had on the previous two trains that passed: that had not stopped. So I, in following what seemed to be the norm, not wanting to miss our train, and admittedly excited by the prospect of jumping on a train, hopped on. Of course, about a minute later, the train stopped at the station for a minute or two. I searched through a few cars for Danthemanstan, but was unsuccessful so, with no one to call took a standing spot and read. We had purchased AC seats, but all the cars I looked through were just hard seats, and it was too packed to actually make it back to any door connecting to the cars at the end of the train. Despite being incredibly packed, most people seemed to be enjoying themselves by chewing paan, drinking chai, smoking thin, grey cigarettes, playing cards, or eating some bean and pea snack. I later found Danthemanstan, who, by waiting, like any reasonable person, had boarded the right car, found his seat, and enjoyed the trip in soft seat comfort. We arrived in Agra on hour late, and were picked up by an auto-rickshaw driver employed by the hotel. It was a great service until he haggled and insulted us as we checked into the hotel because we didn’t want to use as a driver/tour guide the next day.