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Agra - Jaipur
E. Route : B--------- : ETD -------- : ETA ------- : Dist -----.
A. Route : Agra - Jaipur : ATD 0914 : ATA 1920 : Dist. 171 m.
- Depart Agra 0914
- 0927 - 1113 Taj Mahal stop.
- 1245 - 1317 Short stop.
- 1330 - 1351 Level crossing stop.
- 1354 - 1359 Bog stop.
- 1420 - 1525 Loss of tyre tread.
- 1545 - 1600 Argument over collision.
- 1617 - 1635 Police station stop.
- 1749 - 1755 Level crossing stop.
- Arrive Jaipur University 1920
Est.A.Spd. ------- : Gross A.Spd. 15.4 mph. : Net.A.Spd. 27.9 mph.
Stop time 4:27 hr. : Speedo TD 10266 : Speedo TA 10437.
Comment (*) - Distance measure should exclude 15-mile journey made by part of party during visit to Taj, ( 10270 - 10285 ). Not one of our happier days - apart from no less than three level crossing hold-ups (one in the extra journey already mentioned), there was another stripped tread, and collision with a local bus, on which comment is reserved.
Jim Lindsay's diary:
25 August
Mamma told me there'd be days like this. It started badly with getting caught on dish-washing
duty. Most people wanted to get back to the Taj for photographs but Gordon and I took the coach
over to Akhbar's Tomb to try to retrieve a package of stamps he had left there the day before.
I think they were collectable stamps he had brought to use in barter. Getting there was a
nightmare of bad signposting and impossible traffic, and of course the stamps had gone.
Getting back should have been easier but there were cunningly placed obstacles.
People had bought peacock fans as souvenirs. These soon fell apart but the bits were persistent
and little bits of gaudy feather kept turning up when we did house-keeping on the coach.
We travelled through a landscape of bright green fields and brown irrigation ditches, with
peacocks in the fields. In this flat landscape we were held up quite often at level crossings.
Once we were brought to a halt by a rhythmic banging under the chassis, which turned out to be
the tread stripping from a tyre - the first of many. The inevitable crowd turned out to inspect
the wheel changing and assist us, although they drove poor Fudge to distraction by pushing and
pulling in unison at exactly the wrong times.
Then we had a collision. While Ricky was driving a local bus pulled out from the left and caught
us on the side. He then got out to remonstrate and before long it was obvious there would be
one of these angry scenes everyone warned us about. Before the first stone could be thrown we
got him back in and drove off. Down the road we stopped at a police bungalow but there was not
really much they could do. No serious damage had been done but we had acquired a set of ugly
scrapes starting in front of the passenger door, and lost any confidence in his driving. The
impact was so far forward that it must have been obvious that it was going to happen but he had
taken no avoiding action. I think it was at this stop that Tony - who was not well - was
spectacularly sick and then flopped on his back on a bench surrounded by villagers making
oohing and ahhing noises.
Eventually thinks began to get better. We reached Jaipur and the depression we felt after the
accident was lifted by the excellent guest-house Rajasthan University had assigned us. We
settled in and were then invited to a genteel reception, in the middle of which a rabble
appeared shouting "Here's Manchester - where's the food?" We were not sorry when they moved
on the following day.
This was proper living! We ate with waiter service in a dining hall with a real tablecloth
with formal place settings. Our little suites - with three or four in each - had mesh screens
on the doors and windows and big creaky fans on the ceilings, and there were beds with sheets
and even an en suite toilet and shower. Everyone tripped back and forward comparing suites to
see if somebody else had a better one.
The day's final rather sour note was that Fay had lost some dollars during the day and the
evidence pointed strongly to Subash. He denied it, of course, but although he hung around
Jaipur (although not with us) and went back to Delhi on the coach with us, there was always
a distrust there.
| Memorabilia Corner Famous quotation about the Taj Mahal |
