Kanpur, formerly Cawnpore, saw some of the worst episodes of the Indian rebellion in 1857. That's all behind us now though. And it's another foreigner-free place. On the way back to the train station, I caught my Uber driver sneakily showing me off to his friend via a video call. I didn't raise a middle finger but I did stare back at the lens with a distinct absence of friendly smile.
Agra was a very different kettle of fish, due to the presence of an Official World Wonder. There are seven Wonders and the Taj Mahal is my fourth to date. See pictures below. It was genuinely the first time since Mumbai that I'd seen more than two or three white people in one place. Most of these tourists fly into Delhi and then take a chartered coach trip down to Agra before going back to the airport and flying home and telling everyone that they've "done India". I shall always look down on these people from a very great height.
Having been in India for nearly two months now, here are my main tips for anyone contemplating a visit:
1. Get your e-Visa early, before booking your flights. It's not expensive. Carry a printed copy while in India.
2. Don't bother with roaming deals or e-SIMs for your phone. Just go to the AirTel stall at Mumbai airport when you arrive. For about seven quid you get a 28-day SIM with unlimited calls & texts and 1.5Gb of data per day. You can dual-SIM it with your own.
3. Always carry cash. The message "INTERNATIONAL CARD NOT ACCEPTED" has a habit of appearing at inopportune moments. You can't buy rupees outside of India but there are some Indian ATMs that don't charge for withdrawals, eg those run by Bank Of Baroda and Yes Bank. Get a foreign currency card that doesn't charge fees (I use Caxton).
4. Work hard on maintaining a stock of small denomination notes: most people don't want to accept 500-rupee notes, but the ATMs generally won't give you anything else.
5. Ignore traffic signals. Because that's what the traffic itself usually does. Always assume that vehicles will be coming at you from both directions, on both carriageways, at all times.
6. You can use Uber not just for taxis but also auto rickshaws and rear-seat moped rides. It takes all the uncertainty out of both your destination and your fare.
7. When speaking English to locals, do so with a mild Indian accent. I'm quite serious here. You don't have to go full 'Goodness Gracious Me' but it definitely helps if you pronounce the words roughly the same way they do. It's like how, in the USA, you need to pronounce 'tuna' as 'toon-ah' rather than 'choon-er' if you want to be understood (something I learned to my cost on the very first day of Edd's Travels back in 2008).
If I acquire any more priceless pearls of Indian wisdom during the rest of my trip then I'll be sure to pass them on. But time is starting to run out on that score.
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| Taj Mahal (obviously) seen from the south |
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| Main gateway to the Taj |
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| Taj again from the south-west corner |
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| Agra Fort |
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| JK Temple in Kanpur |
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| "Freight train, each car looks the same And no-one knows the gypsy's name..." 'Melissa', The Allman Brothers, 1972 |
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| Edd vs Food #159 I like my spicy curries but the default in India is usually biryani. Of which, here is a posher-than-average example from the Punjab Grill in Kanpur. |
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| Edd vs Food #160 Mixed kebab platter: lamb (front), chicken (right), paneer (left), fish (back), yoghurt (middle) At Kebab-e-que, in the Agra Hilton |
