Me, Sarkozy and the Taj Mahal

My cousin Lewis made a brief visit to Delhi on Friday and Saturday after spending a few days in Bangalore for work. The French president, Nicholas Sarkozy, threaten to ruin our plans since his visit to India (without Carla Bruni) coincided with Lewis's visit. But we managed to not let him get in our way.

On Friday evening, we ventured to Old Delhi, giving Lewis the chance to take in the “real” India. After picking up wedding invitations, we took a cycle rickshaw to the main street, Chandni Chowk. There were eat street food, dahi bhalla and tikki, before going to Haldiram’s to load up on (and taste) Indian sweets. ccccCCCCCCCccOn a cycle rickshaw in Old Delhi

Stocking up before the dry day!

Haldiram's Sweet Shop

Enjoying Street Food

Later on, we went to our favorite restaurant in town, Smokehouse Grill. We managed to get there just in time to enjoy one drink with dinner – restaurants and bars stopped serving alcohol at 11:30pm because the following day was a dry day due to the Republic Day holiday.

On Saturday, Lewis and I battled road closures, awful roads and even the French president, but we prevailed and managed to see the Taj Mahal, if only briefly. We planned to leave Delhi at 6am, but our driver claimed he couldn’t make it through town because many roads were blocked for the Republic Day parade through the center of town. Of course, roads were still open, but you had to go around the action.

Ani spent the next hour or two on the phone trying to locate another cab for us. Fortunately for us, he was successful and we finally left the apartment around 8:30am. Unfortunately for us, this also meant that we would arrive in Agra at just about the same time as Sarkozy. And that’s exactly what happened.

As we were approaching one of the side entrances to the Taj, we noticed that the road was blocked up ahead. They had stopped traffic for Sarkozy’s motorcade. At first we though he was leaving, but instead, he was running late and was just arriving at the Taj Mahal.

On a side note, Sarkozy was the guest of honor at the Republic Day parade and flew to Agra from Delhi - a 30 minute flight. It takes me longer to even get to the airport, and that doesn’t include the wait time just to enter the airport!

Agra Fort

Because the Taj Mahal was closed for a “private viewing,” we made our way to Agra Fort, along with every other tourist in Agra. Despite the crowds, it was a nice visit and my first. At about 4:30pm we finally made our way to the Taj, again, along with everyone else in Delhi. The lines were enormous and I waited for almost an hour in the “female” security line, while Lewis’s “male” line went much faster. Once inside, we made a mad dash around the structure. We needed to get back to Delhi because Lewis’s international flight was to depart at 3am and we had no idea how traffic would be on the return.

Me and Lewis at the Taj Mahal

I promised Lewis he would see the Taj and I delivered. I was very worried on Thursday when I realized that Sarkozy planned to visit the same day. And I was even more worried when I realized that roads would be closed on Saturday morning. But we found a way and while the visit was brief, it was well worth it.