24-Dec-2002 -- I'm surprised no one has mapped this confluence before -- it's only 20 km away from the Taj Mahal, India's most famous building. On my holiday trip to Agra, I decided to try and find the confluence. Hafeez (an excellent driver!) and I took the Agra-Gwalior highway south from Agra to a site pretty close to the confluence.

The first 3 or 4 kilometers just took us out of Agra; it's a pretty big city.

After a while, the road opened up to rural countryside. The mustard fields were in full bloom, so the plains on both sides of the road were covered in yellow flowers. Women in bright saris worked the fields. When we had got as close to the confluence as I thought we could get, I asked Hafeez to pull over and park. I had about a 5-kilometer hike ahead of me, which is about what I figured from the map. While looking for a parking spot, Hafeez found a road to a small village exactly where we wanted to be. We pulled down this dirt path and drove 3 kilometers or so closer to the site. By the time the road had narrowed from a dirt road to a cow path, I only had a kilometer or so left to walk. Hafeez stayed with the van, while I followed the cow path until it dwindled down to a goat path, and then cut back and forth through fields heading as close to the direction of the confluence as I could get without tromping through the middle of someone's fields.

I gradually made my way through the fields and to the opening of the river, which flows right by the site. I followed a dry stream bed for a while, which eventually opened up to the river itself. Luckily, I was on the right side of the river. A flock of peacocks flew right in front of me while I was less than 300 meters from the spot. Eventually I found the exact location -- along the edge of the river, in the middle of a newly-planted wheat field, smack between the riverbank and a short tree-covered hill. A farmer and his wife were bathing their water buffalo in the river. A young boy, who told me his name (it ended with "raj" and started too quickly for me to catch) ran up from the river to find out what I was doing. I told him it was beautiful and that I wanted a photo. He was happy with that explanation.

On the way back to the car, I made a circular journey that took me through a small village I didn't even know was there. I eventually found the first village, where the van was parked. Seems that the whole population of the village came out to say goodbye. Must not be very often for strange visitors to come park in their village and wander off into the fields.