Red Fort Part II - Sitting Pretty at Agra

As soon as Stephen and I arrived in Agra, the first thing we did was drink garam chai at the station - Agra was freeeezing! :) The second thing we did was walk around outside the station till this old rickshaw cyclist convinced us to hire him to drive us to the Agra Fort. We were also supposed to stop for samosas and jalebis on the way, but I reasoned we should first get to the Fort - and of course, a highly whiny Stephen started grumbling soon afterwards. :)

Agra was the capitol of the Mughals, since the Emperor Akbar's time. It was meant to be a twin capitol to Delhi, but of course, after the reign of the Five Great Mughals, the city sort of... dwindled. Amazing architecture though, and I felt like an ass for not charging my batteries long enough before hitting the fort.




Stephen was highly impressed by the fort, much more than he was by the one in Delhi. Of course, to be fair to the Delhi fort, we didn't really get much of a chance to explore the interiors. The outer walls of the Agra Fort still had some minay-kari work remaining - the walls must have looked amazing when the minay-kari was there in all its splendour, in earlier times...!

I adore these old park benches. Not very Mughal in nature, I know, but I adore them! :)

Then there was the pic down there - I mean, they couldn't have placed the damn loo sign anywhere else other than bang next to the main map of the complex??!!

In the end, though, we decided to ignore all that and just be like Kings. In the Hall of Private Audience (Diwan i Khas), there were two thrones, White and Black, for the Emperor's morning and evening, and these were duly occupied...