Step 7: Manipulate Experiences to Make them Hipper

The history of Taj Mahal is a tragic love story. Who knew? Now that we've seen it, touched it, and even shone a flashlight at the marble to ooh and aww at it's translucency we can attest to how magnificent and beautiful it is. It seems as though many who journey across the country, continent, and even world to see this wonder have their own unique story, which only seems to add to the romance of the Taj. Here is our story...

We arrived in Agra exhausted after an overnight train ride, this time in sleeper class (aka no frills) at 6am. Now more cunning travellers we did a better job of getting a rickshaw to take us exactly where we wanted for a fair price and got a room at an awesome guest house which served us well for our days in Agra.

A while after arriving we briefly checked the CBC for some news back home. There we found an article about an upcoming visit of the PM to India. He was scheduled to be in Agra on the some of the same days we were, and to our understanding was planning to go to the Taj Mahal on Sunday. Naturally we immediately got excited about how 'hip' a story it would be to run the Prime Minister at the Taj Mahal. A few Facebook status replies and article checking later it was determined that Ed Fast, minister of Trade and something else important would be joining the PM on his trip. Ed Fast's parents lived across the street from where Alyx grew up and through other Abby connections is a part of the occasional musings at the Mac/Y household.

A few emails later and it was seeming more likely that a meet up with PM Harper at the Taj would happen. A cordial shake of the hands, a potential photo op, and most importantly a super hip story. Our set up was grand.

We put off going to the Taj Mahal by a day and admired the beauty of Agra Fort. The Mughals were certainly capable of producing some amazing pieces of architecture...

Sunday came and we did what everyone and the guidebook told us to do and we showed up in time to see the Taj Mahal at sunset. While the sun was rising we and all the other tourists were standing in a line outside the walls of the Taj. A half hour later the gates were open and we were filing through the long line slowly but inefficiently. All you can do is laugh, shrug and say "this is India!" But Amy is still in a passive aggressive stage where she points out the inefficiencies of the systems indirectly and loudly in front of those who seem in charge. About 2 hours later we were inside, unable to see the Taj through the thick smog, or perhaps fog (Agra is either very polluted or suffers from intense fog, or both), blaming an early visit of Stephen Harper for the late opening of the gates. Hey, if we missed him AND the sunset surely we had the right to add this to the list of the many other things we feel inclined to blame Harper for. Crime number one at this point? Robbing us of a delicious story.

The Taj truly is so beautiful, and simply amazing. The short story without names is that an emperor in the 17th century built it for his (third) wife after she died giving birth (to her 14th child). He is buried along with her underneath the Taj out of the way of the three million people who come to visit every year, though the mosuleum has elegant fake tombs that are viewable from a distance. Let it be said in writing that Amy has promised to build Alyx a building of such equal or greater magnificence.

We got the necessary pictures, and even got one of our first pictures together thanks to the help of a somewhat cranky British fellow. By then it was about 10am and we were hungry enough to dismiss the possibility of seeing Harper and call it a day.

Around 7:15pm we received a message from Alyx's parents. The PMO had gotten back to an email written by Alyx's dad to Ed Fast which Fast had then forwarded on to the PM. The Prime Minister would be visiting the Taj Mahal on Monday (though we are still inclined to blame him for missing the sunrise) but would Alyx and Amy available to come to five star hotel something or another at 7pm?

Let this sink in for a minute. Personal invitations to meet the PM in India.

By now we, the extremely hip dynamic duo, were in our PJs getting ready to settle in for the night, Amy feeling a bit frustrated with an upset stomach that had been bothering her all day.

So no, we were not free. Frankly we were not hip enough either. As neat as meeting the PM in India would be there is a huge difference between a smile and quick hello, or even a moment of staring at a distance at an historical monument/neutral territory and going to the PMs 5 star hotel in our baggy, smelly clothing. Socially, the situation seemed terrifying. Try as we did to get our hip story at the last minute we chickened out.

On the other hand maybe it's for the best of everyone. We make no secret of our left wing political views and pleasant conversation would surely have run its course quite quickly. Alyx's parents had something to talk about with their friends for a few days and have surely come up with a great story to cover up the true unhip story of what happened. And we learned that manipulate as you may to get an experience to bend to your most hip imaginings in the end it is the candid and unpredictable that make the best and most memorable stories.

So come on world, give us something to write home about...
a&a