I had scheduled with Paras from the Big Brothers Hostel, a hostel really close to Taj Mahal, that I would volunteer there, but we didn’t necessarily talk about what I will be doing.
Turns out to be that my task is to take the guests at the Hostel that wanted to join, to see the sunset with the Taj Mahal in the background. This could not be better news for me! (As I mentioned before the main reason I’m going to India is to see the Taj Mahal) I was more than thrilled to know it! I will not consider this as work of course. This is just the best volunteering EVER. I was a tour guide to Taj. I will never forget it! I got this volunteering through workaway.info, a website where you can find yourself a hoster in any corner of the world. This was an amazing experience for me, so I truly advise you to have a look.
The guests at the hostel were finding very weird that it is an Occidental girl touring them. But here is how I got to do it: Paras introduced me to John, his friend that makes tours by bicycle through all over Agra. (I loved to meet John, he is such a nice and fun guy). So we were a group of maybe 8 people and I ride a bicycle for the 1st time in years. I wasn’t riding one of those things for so long that I wasn’t sure if I could ride it anymore. We went to see the sunset next to the Taj and I was doing it to learn how to get to the places so the following day I could do it on my own.
First we rode the unique boat that is in the river and takes you to the middle of it so you can see the Taj from a different perspective. You can get the masterpiece reflection on the water and it’s just an AMAZING view. The boat is really old and bouncy but the view was paying all the fear of falling on those doomed waters. One thing that truly impressed me was the amount of garbage laying there in the river just next to Taj. I mean, it’s embarrassing how they just don’t care about all that trash that they could clean so easily, but it seems like no one cares. That is a fact that I truly don’t understand why it happens. There is totally no need for it with so many people you see on the streets doing nothing.
Anyway, it was an amazing boat ride of 10 min. Then we went to another place to stand and just relax while watching the sun going down. This is a spot that no tourist knows about, just like the spot for the boat ride. There are no tourists there so I felt like I was being a privileged person to be able to go this spots only Indians know about. If I hadn’t done this volunteering I would never ever found those spots. So, the second spot is up in a hill where you can enjoy the Taj all for yourself and the mates that are going with you on this ride. That spot was a place for several Bollywood movies and it’s just stunning. You just sit there in the hill watching Taj and the dozens of crows that from time to time take flight at the same time, which turns the experience even more unique and special. Sometimes there were so many birds that the sky was covered in black. It was so AWESOME. There are no words to describe this experience. I would be there every day for the next 5 days to watch this show. I could never in my life dreamed about this “job”.
More info: whileyoustayhome.com
