DOPEY TONGA DRIVERS AND HASH-FILLED HOSTELS - AGRA, 1976

[The final stage of a very long and exciting day - the day I saw two Indian gems: Fatehpur Sikri and the Taj Mahal.  Judging by the number of exclamation marks in my diary entry, I was returning to the tourist hostel in Agra still intoxicated with the sight of the Taj Mahal by moonlight.  Then it was back to the hippy trail experience of coffee, chips, Stevie Wonder at half speed and hash filled dormitories.]

THURSDAY 9TH DECEMBER, 1976 - Part Five 

"4 of us began to walk home - waylaid by tonga drivers.  Little old man in white turban and blanket cornered us.  In we got (me, Jan, Adrian and Sally).  We sat in front - something soft below feet - think (at least it smelt like!) muck and straw!  He couldn't get horse to move at first - others [drivers] laughing at him.  Then off it went.  Kept kicking its rump up at us and heading off the road - bloke had no control!  Anyway he was nearly asleep he was so doped up with hash!

Headed for every vehicle in sight!  Thought we'd had it when roads converged and a car came in opposite direction and we were on wrong side - luckily car shot around us!  We decided to pay him off at a big hotel - didn't think he'd negotiate the corner to our place!  He tried to drive in the gates of this posh hotel on his rickety tonga!

At hostel we all piled in and had coffee and chips.  Attendants tried to give disco effect by switching different lights on now and then!  (records were grinding round on turntable - Stevie Wonder's voice had dropped  few octaves!)

Tried to find a place to sleep - me and Jan were shown up onto roof - room with no glass in windows!  Or the other choice was a room next door with a couple of others, but couldn't breathe the air was so thick with hash etc!

Fortunately they opened up another room below and we dossed down on these beds (like hammocks stretched across frames).  People kept popping in and shoving more foamies in."

TAJ MAHAL BY MOONLIGHT - communing with a chief's ghost, 1976

THURSDAY 9TH DECEMBER, 1976 - Part Four

[If I thought the Taj Mahal was romantic by daylight, I was completely captivated by seeing it under moonlight - and lucky too, for we had arrived on the final night's viewing for that month.  My Chief, Dame Flora MacLeod of MacLeod, (who had journeyed to India as a girl in Victorian times and who had died while I was on my trip) had filled me with expectation at seeing the Taj floodlit by the moon.  I scraped together enough rupees to go in again, and felt the presence of my chief as I stepped through the dark.  It's hardly surprising that I've used the setting in my new novel OVERLANDERS.]

"Walked down to Taj Mahal after dark - 10 of us.  From archway couldn't see any moonlight on it (this was 4th day after full moon and last night it was open).  Anyway, paid last rupees to get in!

From inner archway could see right side of dome lit by moon and sides of minarets.  Slight reflection in still tank too.  All the same, the atmosphere was really romantic and still.  Sat on steps watching dark shape in the moonlight.  Then wandered round to side of mausoleum and saw all of the side lit up by moon - really beautiful.

Several rowdy voices shouting out in the night - whole troop of tourists arrived.  So I've made it!!  (Remembered Chief's description of it when she was a girl)."


Me leaning against the Taj Mahal, 1976

TAJ MAHAL - ROMANTIC IN THE LATE AFTERNOON SUN, 1976

[Into Uttar Pradesh: the second part of the 9th December was spent falling in love with the Taj Mahal - every bit as romantic and impressive as I'd heard but feared wouldn't live up to expectation.  An extravagant work of love, it was built by Shah Jahan as a memorial to his third wife Mumtaz Mahal (meaning the Chosen One) who died giving birth to their 14 child.]

THURSDAY 9TH DECEMBER, 1976 - Part Three

"Reached Agra and saw Taj Mahal in late afternoon sun.  First glimpsed through archway - fantastic - like walking into a film! 

Lovely long [water] tank broken by platform in middle with fountains all the way up.  A few tourists, mainly Indians.  Took shoes off, up steps into the mosque - like a church - cool, dark, echoing, high vault.  2 tombs in screen - bigger one was Shah Jahan's to the wife's right.  Decorated inlaid flowers in marble (like screen on outside too).  Corridor and marble hallways all round screen.  Then steps down to vault below where real tombs of monarchs were (exactly the same as ones on show above).

Walked round outside - river at back, tributary of Ganges.  Red gateways on 3 sides of garden leading into Taj - lovely pagoda type towers lit in evening sun, pink flowers, green trees, birds.

Staying the night at International "Hot Water" Youth Hostel.  Sitting in cafe listening to Stevie's [Wonder] 'Inner Visions', candlelit tables.  Well looked after - cooked on lawn outside."

FATEHPUR SIKRI, INDIA - giant chess, murderous elephants, perfect pink palace, 1976

[After doing pujah with the early morning farmers, we headed to fabulous Fatehpur Sikri.  I found it a peaceful place of good vibes - though it can't have been all sweetness and light at the court of the great Mughal Emperor Akbar where female slaves were used as chess pawns and transgressors were done to death by stamping elephants.  In 1976 though, we found only a brilliant guide and tranquil musicians.]

THURSDAY 9TH EDECEMBER,1976 - Part Two

"First stop was the deserted pink city of Akbar the Great's at Fatehpur Sikri; built because he was promised a son there by a wise man and it was granted him. (Had 3 wives but no son by the age of 30.  2 Hindu wives and 1 Moslem wife from Istanbul who had her own tiny palace - hollow underneath to that cooler in summer).

Had a good guide round the palace.  Super place - only lived in for 14 years before the water supply dried up.  Really peaceful, happy atmosphere.  All sandstone again.

Saw: camel stalls, horse stables, a chief minister's house (Akbar had 9), a 5 storey pagoda-style summer house for the women - different style pillars with storeys tapering away; the top was where the Emperor sat with his wives.  Could see the tomb of the Elephant down below, outside the city (spiky tower).

Saw courtyard with chess board marked out - king and queen sat on pedestal in the middle and the king played with the pawns i.e. the slave girls!

Also saw the house where he reputedly played hide and seek with 3000 "unofficial queens" as the guide put it!

Shown the public audience chamber that overlooked garden where elephant was tied up and stamped people to death (no hanging).  Private audience chamber of Akbar - 4 gangways overhead converging on central round balcony where he sat on the throne and talked with his ministers (who were at each corner).

Also saw dining room and Akbar's bedroom with huge raised stone bed.  Balcony where he sat and overlooked ornamental pond where people sat round and listened to musicians in middle of the pond.  Lastly saw round Hindu ladies (queens') summer and winter palaces.

Then went and had a look at the mosque part with white mausoleum to the wise man who prophecied Akbar's son.  Big courtyard with trees in middle with people selling flowers and cloth underneath.  3 musicians sitting on marble flagstones in front of mausoleum - drummer, singer and pianist.  Inside was an ornate screen with a tomb covered in cloths (Moslem custom).

We each tied a coloured string round the marble frame and made a wish - our guide promised it was infalable!"



White mausoleum of wise man, Fatehpur Sikri

SONG AT SUNRISE - white oxen, green fields. Rajasthan, India, 1976

[Camping wild at the side of the road in village India was one of the highlights of the trail - and waking to a crisp, pink mellow winter's sunrise with rural life already up and on the go.  The impression made by the farmers this particular morning was vivid and long lasting - that is why it reappears in fictional form in my novel OVERLANDERS.]

THURSDAY 9TH DECEMBER, 1976 - Part One 

"In the morning, opposite side of the road, the sun was rising pink over the misty trees. 

4 men came with 6 white oxen and began working the well to irrigate surrounding fields.  2 threw big leather bags into the well; other 2 set off down small slope, riding on the ropes pulled by 2 pairs of oxen.  2 at the top then emptied the bags into a channel that fed water away into the green fields.  Cheerful young one singing away as he worked the bag.

Saw peacocks at side of the road - very shy."

JAIPUR, INDIA - PINK CITY, PINK FLOWERS, SKIRTS AND DENTURES! 1976

[Excitement over elephants at Amber left me without enough stamina for the pink city of Jaipur.  Built in the early 18th century by the ruler of Rajasthan, Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, it became his capital instead of Amber and was India's first planned city.  Its streets were first painted pink for a visit by the Prince of Wales in the 1850s.  But the attractions of the teaming streets - flower sellers and dentists' stalls - seem to have caught my attention more than the opulent architecture.

There's a beautifully written book that portrays Jaipur and its princely family at the time of Indian Independence which came out in the 1980s: 'A Princess Remembers: Memoirs of the Maharani of Jaipur' by Gayatri Devi and Santha Rama Rau - highly recommend it.]

WEDNESDAY 8TH DECEMBER, 1976 - Part Three 

"Went on to Jaipur.  Pink sandstone city in modern layout (supposed to be famous for its jewels).  Wandered up and down a couple of streets (4 radiating from a roundabout) with Jan - didn't like to dive into narrow bazaar area.  Bedevilled with people trying to sell wrapover skirts (nice if had the money).

Felt exhausted but decided to walk up top of pink palace (18th century Persian architecture - am I right about this?) and finally found entrance archway, then headed into wrong courtyard!  When found the main stairway (which was in fact signposted to Memorial!) it was closed!  Failed as tourists once again!

Camped not far away, off the road by some haystacks.  Jan is back in our tent - the others had big boast of sleeping outside - teased me about snakes but they all slept inside tent eventually!  I was shoved behind the tent pole! 

Silly evening on bus - we've a mouse on board!"

BARBAR THE ELEPHANT AND GHOST OF GHANDI - AMBER, INDIA

[Next stop this December day was Amber (the old capital of Rajasthan in the 11th century) and its fabulous palace.  Anywhere that had so many elephants, my favourite animal , was going to have a strong appeal.  (I was brought up on Barbar the Elephant stories and for years as a child believed the mountain in central Edinburgh was called Barbar's Seat).  The palace was built with a special wide walk for the elephants, and for those who had the money, you could still approach it that way.  This was one of the places I attempted to use the temperamental cine camera; the result was a lot of dark shadow and the flash of an elephant for a split second.

Down in the town, I think I caught a glimpse of Ghandi's ghost ...  Barbar and Ghandi - two big influences on my life in one place.] 

WEDNESDAY 8TH DECEMBER - Part Two 

"Stopped at Amber - interesting village, with superb fort and palace on top of hill (various other temples etc on other surrounding hills).  Walked up elephant walk to palace (lots of elephants with painted trunks and ears giving rides up).  Lovely gardens below and big pond with ornamental garden.

Big courtyard inside with arcades all round (some tourist shops), elephants and gardens.  Up rampart into palace proper.  Nice view from this courtyard over pond and valley below.  Lovely entrance into inner courtyard - pink tiles etc. 

Smaller courtyard with royal quarters around it.  Hall of mirrors - beautiful glass and mirrors covering walls - brightly coloured glass in form of flowers, people, animals with alabaster on top.  Remains of inlaid sandalwood and ivory doors.  Water shute and marble grate where the breeze came through to cool the place in summer (1600s).

Down to village to find a drink.  Fascinating medicine man - long unkempt black hair, very dark skin, sitting in his loincloth by a cloth spread with bottles and little heaps of something - several little boys helping him who also sat cross-legged by him.

Little old man with loincloth and a walking stick was dashing round the village - eventually jumped on a bus."