A visit to TajMahal

Prelude / Planning:

Having lived in Delhi since 1969, I had to face frequent questions from my friends and relatives, if I ever saw the Taj Mahal in Agra. They also wanted to know if I visited places like Red fort, Qutab Minar etc;
Being a workaholic, I never had time even to dream of visiting these places of historical interest, due to my tight work schedules and my dedication for devoting most of my time to work place.
So, at one point, I decided to go to these places after my marriage. Again, I could NOT visit these places till after my daughter Sheeba was born.
Therefore, I planned to see these places along with my sister-in-law – (Thankam,) who came to Ghazibad escorting my wife and the new born.
I took the help of my wife’s cousin Mr.Subramaniam – affectionately known as Mani- who was staying at Janakpuri with his family. We too wanted to visit them for a long time. They suggested us, to stay in their place and make the trip to Agra from there. This was the best plan to accomplish both the visits at one go.
As such I booked our tickets – three tickets each costing Rs.15.00 for the trip - thru’ the agent known as Panicker’s Travel established in the location known as Karol Baugh.
The Travel:
We left for Janakpuri on Friday the 23rd of March 1979. We hired a cycle rickshaw from our residence in Old Raj Nagar to the local bus station to board a bus to Delhi – Kashmir gate terminus. From their, we took another bus to Ajmal Khan Road.
The travel agent – Panicker’s travel had its office there and hence we took this route to Janakpuri. We collected the tickets and also procured some items for Mr.Mani and family who was our host.
We reached our host’s residence by evening and were greeted in a lavish manner. Sheeba – our nine month old daughter was quiet and did not even know we are travelling with her.
My sister-in-law, Thankam was seeing them after a long time and we all in general had gossip about almost every one in my wife’s family since time memorial to tem. In short the assembly of family members created a happy atmosphere and we had our dinner late and went to bed late as well.
We woke up at 5 AM on 24-3-1979, to the fragrance of steamy idly and equally attractive sweet smell of Mysore pak etc; We had quick breakfast as, we had to leave for catching the bus from across the road. (The stops for this kind of trips are located - called pick up points- in few places around Delhi.)
We were also given to carry some idly for consumption during travel. We left for the tour and boarded the bus by 8 AM on 24-3-1979. Our first stop was Agra Fort followed by Taj mahal.
There was a young man who boarded our bus and called himself as our tour guide. He briefed us about the fort, the city and the monument – Taj mahal. Since I knew the history of the town, I enjoyed verifying the facts as told by this young man. Apparantly, he turned out to be a student and worked as tourist guide at times. I think this boy’s name was Saxena.
There was reasonable crowd in all places being Saturday, but not disturbing as we could get entry tickets to all places with ease. For some reason, the movement of all of us was smooth and no way a rushing us from one place to another. We spent more time in a place far away from Taj Mahal known as old fort.
We had quick lunch within the bus as carried idly along with soft drinks from the nearby shop where our bus was parked. We also saw places of historical interest in and around Agra.
Then we briefly visited Mathura and worshipped Lord Krishna and attended the Arthi ceremony. We could not proceed to Virindavan as it was getting dark.
We reached Janakpuri late by 23.30 hours, on 24-3-1979.
NOTE: The film roll, I used was accidently opened by Sheeba – Sheeba grabbed th edge of the film and pulled it out exposing the whole strip and our tour had only one photo as memory- the one took by wayside photographer at the Taj.
Details of expenses for this trip

1 Rickshaw fare from Raj Nagar to bus-stand 2.25
2 Bus fare to Delhi 3.75
3 Bus station to Ajmal Khan road / Arya Samaj road 2.10
4 Jasmin Flower strings 0.90
5 Apples – one Kilo 6.00
6 Soap – Mysore Jasmin - for use while staying out. 2.70
7 Biscuit 4.50
8 Bread 3.00
9 Cashew nut – 200 gms 2.00
10 To Janak puri 1.20
11 Fare to Agra- for 3 persons 45.00
12 Entrance fee to Taj mahal – 3 persons. 6.00
13 Do- Agra fort. 6.00
14 Cost of Tajmahal marble models-2 33.00
15 Marble kum kum box 5.00
16 Marble stand for agarbathi stand 5.00
17 Cost of Portarits – taken by wayside tourist staff including mailing to Ghaziabad. 10.00
18 Birds – moulds – 2 boxes 8.00
19 Rings – bangles 2.00
20 Coffee 0.15
21 Cold drinks 4.50
22 Pan – Beatle leaves and nuts 0.75
23 Kum kum 1.00
24 Ticket for entering Fatepur sikiri fort 1.50
25 Tip to tour guide 1.00
26 Rent for safe keeping chappals at Taj 0.10
27 Toys for Sheeba 0.50
28 Donation into hundi 0.25
29 Repairs to chappals 0.15
30 Return trip-Janakpuri to Madras Hotel 1.50
31 Madras Hotel to Shadra 1.20
32 Shadra to New Ghaziabad 1.95
33 Cycle rickshaw to house 1.25
TOTAL 164.20
The above was total expense incurred
For three persons for this tour.
PHOTOS: self,wife and AND self,wife,daughter Sheeba with sister-in-law Thankam