Our trip to the Taj Mahal: Chapter 3

So I left you somewhere with monkeys in Agra...that was at the Fort. After the fort, we went to dinner and RK was relieved to take us home early so he could go eat. "We are done for the night sir? I can go eat now?" Again, maybe this is something we take for granted with Chandan but we try to tell him how long we'll be whenever he takes us somewhere with the assumption that he will go and do what he's got to do in that time - eat, sleep, whatever. Adele, however, was talking about how she has to tell her driver to eat or he'll complain that he hasn't had time to eat. So she'll say, "I'm going to this place for 2 hours. You should have your lunch while I'm gone." But Sir and I have always taken for granted that as a grown man, Chandan would know when he should eat. He's never complained or said he can't take us somewhere or there's too much traffic. The whole trip just made us very grateful for our Chandan. I wanted to give him a big hug but Sir said he might be a bit taken aback by that (but maybe Sir could try to hold his hand or something).

At dinner we talked about going back to the Taj Mahal for sunset but with the potential traffic, the feeling we were being taken advantage of, RK's reluctance to take us anywhere, and the promise of visitors (hint, hint), we decided that this would not be our last trip to the Taj Mahal. And knowing what we know now, we will do the trip differently. We will spend more time in Delhi and drive out (or possibly take the train) to Agra later to catch the sunset/sunrise. There isn't much else to see/do in Agra. So we told RK we wanted to head back to Delhi early to try to beat the protest. "Oh, that's very good, Sir. We'll get back early." Then he added, "I'm nervous about traffic too."

Sunday morning we got up early, the hotel was kind enough to pack us some muffins and fruit and we made our way back to Delhi. We passed the protest before they really got going so it was smooth sailing. What was surprising to us though, was how organized the protest seemed to be. They all seemed to be carrying the same bag - like someone had gone and purchased enough for all the protesters. There were also large trucks every few yards carrying what we assume were supplies. Some of them even had bottles of water. Of course, even though we made it by early, there were no cones or traffic people attempting to divert traffic early before it became too much of a mess. RK also seemed to have a change of heart. The cynics in us figured this was because he knew a tip would be waiting for him as he dropped us off. But he kept asking if it was ok if he stopped for a break and if we were happy with his service. We made it back in about 3.5 hours and went straight to the airport which gave us a good 5 hours in the airport.

As we are pulling into the airport, RK asks if it's ok to pull into the parking lot to "make the bill." So we pull into a parking space and he takes out a receipt with the Hertz logo and spaces to fill in how many miles were driven, how much tolls were, etc. But then he gets on the phone and pulls out a blank piece of paper. He starts talking to the person on the other end saying things like, "extra, yes, extra" alot. Then he starts writing numbers on the paper and adding them up. This takes a good 15 minutes and at one point, he's hung up the phone and turns to us and says, "oh, we are not educated. We have to calculate on paper. Ha ha (nervous laughter)." He got back on the phone and wrote more numbers down. Finally, George gets to see the bill and he asks to see the receipts from the tolls. "No problem, no problem." He pulls some from the center console, one crumpled up in the passenger seat, a couple stuffed into the glove compartment and hands them to George with two cupped hands. RK looks at George trying to compensate the numbers and says, "oh, the toll keepers make us pay an extra 50 rupees that's not on the receipt." Then he goes to write up another bill. Seeing this, George just says, "can someone maybe email me an itemized bill. I'll sign this for now but I'll want to see a formal, itemized bill." RK then starts telling us that sometimes the charges aren't exact. That sometimes after the car has been returned, there are some changes to the bill. At least, I think that's the gist of what he was trying to say. But he agrees to get a copy of the bill emailed to us and pulls out of the parking area.

As he's driving us closer to the departure area he starts trying to explain why he thought that we might have made hotel arrangements for him. I won't quote him because again, I don't remember what he said exactly but he was trying to insist that "some clients" pay for and make his reservation. But then he started talking about how the hotels sometimes have extra rooms for the drivers at no cost so he thought maybe there was a room for him. But something about his story just didn't jive. I'm sure the fact that our maid-boy was trying to steal from us also didn't help our paranoia about being taken advantage of so we thought it best to just spend most of the day in the airport. (Note: If you have the choice, spending 5+ hours in the Delhi airport is probably not the best use of your time.) But the flight home was smooth and we laughed at our relief to be touching down in good old Bengaluru.

Speaking of maid-boys...I thought we had a new one. A new one (who actually is a very old one. He was the first one we had who was inexplicably replaced.) came on Monday, while I was here. I had called John Paul the manager on Monday to tell him I wanted a new maid and instead of talking about "the incident," he started yelling at me for locking the bottom lock. "Ma'am, there is only one key to the bottom lock on your door. When you lock it, my boys can't get in to clean. They waste their whole day getting to your place and back."
"Well, I purposely locked him out because we were away for the weekend and he tried to steal from me," I said.
"Yes, ma'am. I'll send you someone new but don't lock both your locks."
But I was not around today and I have the sinking suspicion that the stealing maid-boy was hear today. He has a very specific way of making the bed and arranging our papers on the table that is very different from the new (very first) maid-boy. I think I'll put in another call to John Paul tomorrow. I was thinking of telling him to forget the maid altogether and try use Vivian's maid but Vivian said she wouldn't recommend her maid and she's actually looking for someone new too.

Still no news on getting the drier to work but I've put that at the bottom of the priority list.

I saw about 7 big, pink pigs running around one of the side streets near our house. There were two teenagers with them, one with a stick and rope attached to it. It looked like the boys were trying to "round" up the pigs but with very little success. The pigs were moving surprisingly quickly in all different directions.