The Taj Mahal

Me standing on the Taj Mahal!  [You cannot wear shoes on a tomb.]

First let me correct your pronunciation.  Taj Mahal is pronounced tadj mahell.  "Taj" means crown and "Mahal" is the name of the woman it was built for.  As many of you may know, the Taj Mahal was built in the 1600s by Shah Jahan (a Shah of the Mughal empire) after the death of his third wife Mumtaz Mahal.  The Taj Mahal is her tomb and surrounding the Taj are four gates and two mosques.  These buildings are also very beautiful, but are made of red sandstone instead of the white marble of the Taj Mahal.

My first impression of the Taj Mahal is that it looks just like the pictures.  We went on a foggy day, so the view was not as brilliant as some photos I have seen.  But, the building itself was so white, so large, and so beautiful.  The craftsmenship is amazing.  There is no mortar between the stones.  They were cut to fit exactly.  And, all the adornment on the building is inlaid gemstones.  The writing around the gate is onyx inlaid in the marble.  And, the filigree is either gemstone inlay or carved out of the marble.  

 

I left these pictures large.  So, you can click on them for a very large, detailed image.

There is not much else to say about the Taj.  It is a beautiful building and it was amazing to see it.  Like with many of the places I have been in India, the experience is much more interesting than the place or building I went to see.  The four hour drive to Agra was a wonderful visual experience.  I was very happy to have this experience.  As many of you read, there was a big strike in India that was affecting the supply of petrol and this lack of supply was threatening to cancel our trip to Agra and the Taj.  But, the driver we hired called and told us he had secured enough diesel for the trip.  He would not tell us where he got the fuel, he just assured us that we could still go to Agra.  Luckily for everyone, the strike broke the day we left.

To get to Agra we had to leave Delhi at 6am to beat traffic and drive four hours south.  We drove through farm land, small rural towns and markets, and by truck stops (large outdoor stalls surrounded by plastic chairs and tables.)  Lavanya thought it would be fun to eat at one of these places because the food is supposed to be very good, but Dan and I did not think the food would be worth the sickness we would most likely get after eating it.  Instead we had breakfast at a little tourist trap where they charged too much for tea and corn flakes with hot milk.  The place was really a rip off.  They charged Dan Rs 50 for butter.  There were a lot of fun souvenirs for sale, but I had to refrain since I knew that everything was very over priced.  

The rest of the drive we talked and I watched all the people and fields out the window.  It was nice to see the countryside.  It was different than Delhi in many ways.  First of all there were many more animals.  Cows were a more common occurrence and horses and camels were more common than bikes or trucks for pulling goods.  There were fewer people along the roadside (which makes sense), but we saw far more men peeing and a couple of children and adults pooping.  You do not see people doing that in Delhi.  But, in general, the countryside was fun to look at.  The mustard was blooming, so much of the fields were a beautiful yellow.  The rice fields were a light green.  And, there were a few marshes along the way.  I was glued to the window for the four hours there and the four hours back.

Agra is the state Uttar Pradesh.  And this state is a very corrupt state.  Thus, we were stopped twice by police who were after a bribe (once on the way and once on the way back).  When we make it through a slow intersection, the cop pulls us over.  Then he makes up some reason for pulling us over (the first time it was reckless driving the second time tinted windows).  Then they ask the driver to see the papers.  Both times they asked if this was Lavanya's car or a taxi.  Then the cop takes the driver off to a place we can't see him.  Luckily, our driver called his "uncle" who is a constable in Delhi and both times this seemed to help.  And, both times we avoided a bribe. 

[A funny story.  The driver told Lavanya that this could happen to us when we get to Agra and told her to tell any cop that the car we were in is her car and that he is her personal driver.  He said to be sure to tell them that both Dan and I are her friends.  She said she will tell them Dan is her husband.  The driver said, "you don't have to go that far."  She insisted that Dan is her husband.  He laughed.] 

Agra was also more dirty than Delhi and because we were at the largest tourist site in India, there were many more people to sell us things than normal.  We had camel drivers, horse drivers, rickshaw drivers, and drivers all asking us if we wanted a ride.  There were boys and men trying to sell us chess sets, fans, airplanes, and occasionally actually something that was connected to the Taj Mahal.  We took a camel cart to the Taj (you cannot drive close to the Taj) and a horse cart back.  At the Taj Dan and I had to pay Rs 750 to get a ticket, Lavanya had to pay Rs 20.  Obviously there is a very large tourist tax.  But, with or ticket we did get the little booties to put over our socks when we dropped our shoes off.  Either way, I feel that it is worth about 20 American dollars to see one of the Modern Seven Wonders of the World.