Wednesday 7 March 2018

Day Three - Agra

By train to Agra. Noticed the sign Differently Abled - a much nice term than our Disabled...
The vast red sandstone Agra Fort
White marble embedded with  semi-precious stones
Beautiful examples of carved and inlaid white marble inside the Fort
View from the Agra Fort of the haze hidden Taj Mahal

This morning we went to the crowded Delhi train station to catch the train to Agra. I saw people carrying sacks of produce on their heads and chai wallahs selling tea from clanking cans.  En route we saw makeshift shanty towns by the side of the railway line, and lots and lots of wandering cows.

In Agra the biggest employer after the tourist industry is marble work. We visited a marble workshop to see white marble being inlaid with blue lapis and green malachite, both imported from Iran and Afghanistan, together with local red carnelian and mother of pearl.

The marble is gouged out with a tool like an old dip pen, the semi-precious stones shaped by grinding and sanding them down and then a 'secret recipe glue' is applied to keep them secure in the marble. The resulting table tops, coasters and vessels were not my taste but I noticed other tourists buying them.
We were warned that pens might be confiscated when we visited the fort and the Taj Mahal the next day, as they could be used to steal these precious inlays or to write graffitti on the monuments.
I couldn't imagine anyone being barbaric enough to spoil the beautiful handiwork inside the Agra fort, pictured above.

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