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Moral of the story 1:
Make ALL your own arrangements - flights, hotels, transportation!
Never trust others to make them for you even though their
intentions are good.
Eventually, we hired a Qualis - a made-for-India 4x4 manufactured
by Toyota, go figure! - and a driver. The driver looked dubious
and our suspicions were later confirmed and he tried to con
us at every opportunity possible. We were relieved to hear
on arrival that the hotel provided a tour of the Taj Mahal
and Agra Fort inclusive of a guide. No driver - hurrah!
Though we managed to escape the shady driver, we were not
spared from the con wonders of India as our guide, who was
also in on the action, had conned us of 250 rupees each for
"admission" to the Fort when it should have been
free. It was probably because we did not want to visit his
crony's stupid handicraft shop where he would have pocketed
a tidy sum.
Moral of the story 2:
Bad experiences in India always have an uncanny knack of teaching
you patience and acceptance against a backdrop of good humour.
Next, we were off to the Fatehpur Sikri which is a hidden
gem and highly recommended. On the way there, you see performing
bears and their handlers. Though the bears seem cute at first,
the reality of it all is pretty distressing. It's sad to see
what these people have resorted to make a quick buck.
I tried to take some pictures on our way back but it was
a bit tricky in the back seat so I asked my dad, who was sitting
in the front, to help me out. However, my dad's a bit of a
perfectionist when it comes to photography especially since
he's the official family photographer. He took his time and
angled his shot to perfection that a handler and his bear
thwarted our car and ensured that we came to a stop! Before
we knew it, his handler buddies and their bears had come to
his aid and formed a mob around the car. Who needs to go on
safari when you can have your very own interactive bear safari
in India?!!!
Our driver - stupid twat that he is - tried to defend us
against the bear handlers. The guy had no clue about the odds
against us as each of the bear handlers had an intimidating
pole which could have killed us all with one swipe! The bears
themselves were surprisingly quite placid in comparison.
Money triumphed again and we made a quick get-away as Dad
fobbed them off with a handful of coins. This was an opportune
moment to have taken some great shots but, in a state of panic,
we sped off towards the sunset with only a picture of the
air con vent! Nice one Dad!
Moral of the story 3:
When taking pictures of dancing bears, make sure that you
have a quick trigger-happy photographer as opposed to a perfectionist!
If you do get into trouble, make sure you have the following:
· Some coins for escape
· Good power steering to weave out of trouble which
we didn't have
· Good acceleration which we didn't have
· Good driver concerned about the safety of his passengers
which we didn't have
· Good luck but let's face it, we were buggered!
The Last Straw
Tried and tested, we mentioned (no, screamed) that we just
wanted to go to the airport but the driver persisted and still
tried to pull con-jobs. We had reached the end of our tether
when suddenly my dad threatened to take the guy to the police
station. Mum and I were worried just in case the dude really
took us to the police station and we got into a greater pickle
i.e. massive con involving his entire police network! Miraculously,
it worked in our favour. The driver grumbled away in Hindi
and whizzed us off to the airport!
Moral of the story 4:
When faced with a die-hard con artist, use the wildcard -
threat of taking the offending party to the police. However,
this is to be used sparingly just in case it really backfires!
Enjoy and survive Agra, have fun and live to tell your tale.
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Travel Writers: Surviving Agra by Aldrina
Thirunagaran
