I lurched half-dead from lack of sleep into the blazing heat of Aurangabad. Unlike Mumbai which had been encased in smog, Aurangabad lies open to the sky and is hundreds of miles inland without the coolness the coast might lend it. It’s dry as hell. A three-legged dog limped along the side of the road… I later saw another with an eye missing.
My breakfast was as hot and arid as the air around me. Spicy mashed potato encased within fried bread. I gobbled it and felt proud of the rising extremes of spice I’ve grown accustomed to.
Upon the streets of Aurangabad I heard about the Bibi Ka Maqbara. An almost exact replica of the Taj Mahal – a miniature Taj Mahal. A great marble Mughal mausoleum. The Bibi Ka Maqbara was built between 1651 and 1661 by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and his son, Azam Shah, in memory of Aurangzeb’s wife Dilras Banu Begum. Otherwise known as Bibi. Just like the Taj, it is a monument to love.
It was dark when I arrived at the Bibi Ka Maqbara. I marvelled at it as I walked up the path, thinking it surely couldn’t be much smaller than the famous Taj in Agra, for it was extremely humbling.
I quickly learnt there are advantages to visiting this place over the Taj Mahal. There were plenty of people about, but it wasn’t choked with tourists as I hear the Taj is. While the Taj Mahal closes at sunset, here was her sister, brilliantly lit up in the black of night. Within the Taj Mahal photography is prohibited. Not so in the Bibi Ka Maqbara. The Bibi Ka Maqbara is also less than a fraction of the price it’ll cost you to visit the Taj.
Numerous tour guides offered me their services a little way outside the premises. I wanted to explore the place by myself, but it turns out I never needed their services anyway. The people I met within the Mausoleum were only too happy to tell me about the place and give me a run down of its history. I was engulfed by groups of people asking for pictures with me. Once I said yes to one group they just kept coming.
But there were two groups of people I enjoyed speaking to in particular. The first was headed by a Muslim man named Rehan Sayyad. When he realised I could speak a bit of Hindi he led me by the hand out of the Bibi Ka Maqbara – a crowd forming around us – and asked me to speak what I knew in the language. But since I felt so put upon, I couldn’t remember half the things I’d learnt. Rehan then asked me if I had had any bad experiences during my time in India, so I told him about the moments when people had attempted and failed to cheat me of my money, and the moments when people had succeeded in such endeavours. Rehan apologised on behalf of these people and told me not to let it put me off the rest of my expedition.
As I walked back down the path leading away from the Bibi Ka Maqbara, I got talking to two other Muslim guys. One of whom told me he liked writing poetry in Urdu. These guys also wanted to check if I had had any bad or negative experiences in their country and I was flattered to get yet another apology.
All this reinforced in my mind: Indian people care so wholeheartedly about the experience foreigners have in their country, and want them to have the best time possible. They’re friendly like nowhere else I’ve been, flatteringly welcoming and astonishingly compassionate.
These guys told me I should go to Hyderabad next. Told me I’ll get really good Biryani there. Hyderabad is famous for its Biryani apparently. But to go to Hyderabad would mean going south, and I thought that by heading from Mumbai to Aurangabad I had committed to a journey north. Surly I sacrificed the south when I gave up on Goa? The next city on my radar is a place called Indore. I told them this, but they advised me against it and urged me again to go to Hyderabad. Once again, I’m conflicted on where to go next: Do I stay my course north to Indore, a place I know absolutely nothing about… or take a much longer journey south to a highly talked of and more famous city? If I keep changing my mind I’ll simply be zigzagging in and out of Maharashtra forever.
The guys gave me a lift part way through the city on their bike. But for most of the journey I walked through the night-time streets of Aurangabad. It was lively and chaotic in a healthy way. One guy invited me for a cup of chai, while another guy invited me to wrestle with him. Both requests I unfortunately declined. It was far too late to be drinking Chai. As for the wrestle, maybe I could have been persuaded…
Thank you so much 😊
My pleasure Rehan. It was great meeting you 🙂