Gwalior is famous for forts and music. I was expecting some visits to those forts and Agra during my free time after completion of my project, and that was the main driving force for me. I started from my room at around 7pm; on 17/4/2007 towards airport to enjoy a nice Air Sahara flight from Bangalore to Delhi at 8:45 pm. Destination was Gwalior PGCIL site(Power Grid Corp. India Ltd.). I didn’t have any idea about the place and people there and the only thing I had was the contact number of my client. Flight got delayed by 1 hour, and after security check I enjoyed the time by calling my friends and family. Flight got delayed by another 30 minutes and Air Sahara officials didn’t even display that information. Also they didn’t announce that boarding has started. Somehow I managed to get into the plane. I kept my mobile in airplane mode and started hearing nice Hindi pop music. Food supplied by Cabin crew was good enough to eat.
Shadabdi Express
I reached at Delhi airport at around 12:30 am. I called a prepaid taxi and straight away I went to Railway station. My target was Shadabdi Express at 6 am and had to wait in the resting room to spend long and boring 5:30 hours by looking here and there, and small sleeps in between. I should say that the waiting room was not at all clean or maintained properly. At sharp time 6:15 am, Shadabdi arrived with its full fury on platform no. 1. It was my first experience in such a spacious and nice train which travels at 110 km/hr. I saw most of people get down at Agra and I also hoped to have a nice experience of enjoying the beauty of one of the Seven Wonders of the World later.
Gwalior
I don’t want make you bored by explaining all official and project related stuffs that taken place in Gwalior PGCIL Sub Station. But I can say that food is really tasty over there. You will get nice roti, good veg and non veg dishes, lassi etc. The traffic is very less, but climate is a little bit tough to deal with(it was around 45 degree Celsius). Our site was around 20 kms away from town and we used to see camels on the road sides. After completing my project task, I vacated the hotel room at 9 am on 28/4/2007 and went to Gwalior railway station to find a train which will take me to Agra. I called to my office and requested them to book the last flight from Delhi to Bangalore so that I can visit Taj Mahal on the way to Delhi. My clients warned me about taking care of my luggage on my way back.
Indian railway
I took a general ticket and started waiting for some express train. It was the time to prove actual Indian railways punctuality, their pathetic and miserable time keeping. I had to wait too long till 12 pm to see an express train towards Agra, and its previous displayed time was 10 am. My aim was to visit Taj Mahal and then get Shadabdi at 5pm from Agra as told by Hotel guys as well as other localities. On the way towards Agra, it was ok for me stand in the general compartment and talk with localities, and ask them about Taj Mahal and Agra. I received a call from the office, and they had booked a flight at 8:45 pm.
Agra
I reached Agra at 2:30 pm, and went to reservation counter to book Shadabdi ticket. Oh my goodness, the train timing from Agra to Delhi was changed from 5pm to 8pm a few days back. As advised by auto guys and enquiry officials, the only option was Chathisgarh Express at 4 pm which will reach Delhi at 8pm. I knew that it was really difficult to reach at airport after reaching Delhi railway station at 8 pm(provided train will reach there at right time). There was no other option left for me, so I decided to go by that train at 4 pm, and asked auto guys to take me to Taj Mahal ASAP. The auto charge they asked was only Rs. 150 for whole up and down travel to Taj Mahal. I reached in front of Taj Mahal at 3pm.
Taj Mahal
I decided to forget all tension for some time and enjoy the beauty of Mumtaz Mahal’s monument built by Shajahan with the help of most skilled Indian engineers of his time. I saw many people including foreigners going towards the entrance of Taj mahal and I also became one of them. I decided to act like a tourist for at least 30 minutes. The garden in front of the Taj Mahal was really beautiful and I think I was the only one among visitors who came there all alone.
At last that moment came. When I stepped inside, the full exciting view of Taj Mahal came in front of me and it was really thrilling. I was proud to be there as an Indian to have the amazing views of world’s most wonderful and historical monument ever built. I was taking snaps all over there, at every step towards Taj Mahal. I don’t know how to explain the view of Yamuna from Taj mahal, and it is just great. I didn’t had lunch but I was not at all feeling exhausted because of the views of the great pillars, symmetrical make of the tomb and cold marble inside the Mahal.
Only thing that was disturbing me was slight yellow or black tints on the white marble pieces. I happened to check time and it was 3:25pm, I was running out of time, and I decided to come back later at least once more in my life time to enjoy its beauty again with enough spare time.
Agra to Delhi
When I came back to get my auto, driver told me that train is running late by 1 hour, proving that Indian railway is just something like Bull s*hit. My only option to not miss the flight was to hire a taxi. I had to pay Rs. 2200 for an Indica after lots of bargaining. He assured me to reach there before 8pm. And we started from there at 4pm. Driver was a nice guy and we talked a lot about Agra, its tourist seasons, Taj Mahal and Lal Kila. I was hoping to see Lal kila during my next visit to Delhi and Agra. Because of some bad luck, our tyre got punctured and it took 15 minutes to replace it and that time proved much precious later.
Delhi to Bangalore
Traffic was getting really high as we were about to reach Delhi town. It was 7:30pm when we saw Delhi Corp’s welcome board. His driving skill proved to be too marvelous to peep inside even through small gaps in between the running vehicles. Some how we managed to reach airport at 8:25pm. I was too lucky to get inside being 40 minutes late. As we all know, Kingfisher staff is too keen to serve their customer in the best way they can. And I reached at Bangalore airport at around 11:30pm.