Memoirs of Rangoli ... (p41) - Agra ... lost kingdom of Mughal

morning in Agra

Uttar Pradesh, India

February 2016

the journey. it was too long and the boredom crept in, until i lost my senses - to eat, to sleep etc. at one point, i felt it was too much. i mean...i had slept and woke up like few times, and even when it was dark already. the cold winter night, the hard bus seat etc. all mixed up and made the journey felt like forever. 

i woke up as the bus made a stop and heard syib voice, told us that we had arrived Agra. i looked at the clock and i think it was around 4am in the morning. another one hour to go for subuh prayer. i pull my kain pelikat that i used as my blanket for the night, covering all over my body from the cold winter morning in Agra, trying to get back into my rem cycle for another 30 minutes, perhaps.

finally, the main wake up call been made. we left the bus, and followed syib's lead to the Jama' Mosque of Agra. i lost track and it was dark, and the street that led to the mosque only lit up by few lamp posts. we found the first gate, but it was locked, and we saw the homeless was sleeping in front of the gate. we walked further, trying to find another gate and found the east gate. ah...luckily there was also few locals that arrived already, going for the early pray..

the mosque brought back our memories of the Old Delhi Jama' Masjid as it looked the same, except at much smaller scale. the architecture is identical with the main hall, and then the pool for ablution, and then main square etc. we went to take our wudhu, and then had our subuh pray there. the crowd was not as many as we had in old delhi.

we waited for a while, after the subuh pray, for the sun rise and then as usual, took out our gear to memograph the place at its earliest light of the day. the good thing about the mosque was, no charge for the camera. perhaps, the mosque is not a major tourist attraction in Agra. well..they have the Taj Mahal and Fatehpuri Sikri for that.

it was passed 7am, and we could see the street  around the mosque starting to get busy. the vehicles passing by, and the shops along the street started to open. it was time to go and we left the mosque and made our way back to the bus. i couldn't recall the exact location and was totally lost with the direction now. we were walking when it was dark, early that morning from the bus to find the mosque. hehehe.

i saw a group of men in front of one of the shops that was just opened that morning. their voices took our attention to get closer and see what was the commotion. we saw them holding pair of shoes etc. perhaps, it was an early bird sale. 

we continued to walk to find our bus, while then memo-graphing the life that breathed along the street of Agra that morning.

we found our bus (not in the picture above), and then went to find our breakfast. i guess syib was also clueless with the option to eat in Agra, or perhaps wasn't prepared, as we ended up stopping at one of the hotels' in Agra and had our breakfast at its cafe. to make it quick, everybody just ordered the same western-breakfast set i.e. toasts with eggs of our choice, and coffee or tea.

we were about to get on to our bus, as we were approached by a group of street vendors that selling souvenirs of agra like key-chains and fridge magnets. well...early bird sales target really put a persistent motivation in them as we were unable to resist from buying. but i guess we had a good deal, as having the ladies bargaining the deal had set the benchmark for what a good price should be.

the bus left the place as we were done with our shopping and rode straight to our hotel for check in. ah..finally, it was time for a proper rest, a comfy toilet break etc. hehehe.

checked in went smooth as usual, and then we were told that lunch would be at the hotel's cafe around 12 as we'd be leaving to see the Taj Mahal in the afternoon. so we had plenty of time as it was around 10am as we checked in to our room.

tbc.