I spent two weeks in India in 2003. On my last day I travelled from Delhi to Agra with my travel buddy Ben to see the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri.
After leaving Delhi at dawn we had an eventful trip to Agra featuring security checkpoints, dancing bears and no less than three punctures. I’d never seen a car tyre with an inner tube, and I’d certainly never seen an inner tube with so many existing repair patches already in place.
The Taj Mahal was every bit as breath taking as legend suggests. It’s hard to comprehend just how majestic this building is without seeing it for yourself. I walked around for hours in quiet awe.
Getting a good tourist free photograph of such an iconic attraction is of course very difficult so we hatched a cunning plan. Ben would stand in front of the Taj as if having his photograph taken, then on the count of three he would duck out of the way allowing me an undisturbed photograph of the Taj Mahal.
Unfortunately Ben got a little carried away, and rather than merely duck he threw himself bodily to the floor. This is why the edges of the photo are lined with bemused looking Indian tourists, and why Ben spent the rest of the day limping.
Of course the irony is that because of this the tourists make it a much better photograph.
If you know the story behind it.
