Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

Our first day in Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal was perfect. We were greeted at the train station by Ameen our new best friend and rickshaw-
wallah. Over some much needed breakfast he set up an itinerary for us for that afternoon and the next day to see all that Agra had to offer. We soon realized that Ameen was no regular rickshaw driver.

We needed to head back to the train station to try and reschedule our departure (at his suggestion) to avoid a midnight train. He joined us in the station and helped us find the right train information and forms to fill out. From there he showed us around the city taking us to the baby taj mahal and a few other free sites. We killed some time sipping chai on the side of the road listening to his hilarious stories before finally watching the sunset over the back of the Taj.

To round off the first and great day he took us to an unbelievable restaurant. We ate outside in a garden that we had all to ourselves. It was set back from the craziness of the street and it was a welcome reprieve. The food was the best we’d had in India so far with some incredible tandoori chicken and spinach curry.

Over dinner we learned all about Ameen and his philosophies on life. He told us about his decision to leave his career as an accountant to become a rickshaw driver because he was tired of routine. He told us about quitting drinking and smoking after realizing it wasn’t getting him anywhere. He describes himself as easy going and carefree who is perfectly content with his life. Something we came to really appreciate over the next couple of days.

We had every intention of spending day two with Ameen. Our plan was to do a highlights reel of Agra finishing off with the main attraction. Things didn’t to quite according to plan as no trip to India is complete withut at least one round of “Delhi belly”.

Jacob didn’t feel well all day so we decided to postpone our day of sightseeing in hopes that he’d feel better the next day. Ameen still dropped by a couple times throughout the day to see how we were getting along and took us to a pharmacy to get some medicine. He took me out to do a bit of shopping and we arranged to meet again the next morning.

Unfortunately now it was my turn to be the sick one. Just as Jacob recovered from his fever and upset stomach I came down with a wonderful case of food poisoning. So day three also turned out to be a bit of a bust. Being up all night running to the bathroom doesn’t really prepare you well for a full day of sightseeing.

Ameen couldn’t have been more understanding though. Again he took us to the pharmacy to get me some medicine and went out with Jacob to find me some food I could keep down. He left at the end of day three telling us he would be back first thing in the morning to deliver us to our train but if we needed anything else in the meantime to call him no matter how late it was.

Ameen was a breathe of fresh air for us. India is a challenging country to travel in mostly because it is riddled with people trying to cheat you out of your money. Not only did he show genuine concern for us, he told us to only pay him what we wanted. He had chauffered us around for three days and visited us several times to make sure we were feeling okay and he basically asked for nothing in return.

Despite the fact that we spent the majority of our time in Agra holed up in out hotel room I will still have great memories of the place. Ameen is entirely responsible for those memories.