My decision nine years ago, to not visit the Taj Mahal during three months spent in India, is one that some people have found difficult to understand. My mistake last time was planning to see the Taj near the end of my time in India. As the end of that trip grew nearer, two factors played into my decision to avoid Agra. Firstly, I did not have the energy left to face the inevitable hassle that would go with visiting one of the most popular tourist destinations on the planet. Secondly, I knew by then that I would definitely be coming back to India again in the future.
Making my way out of Agra Cantonment train station last week, I realised that even I (an experienced traveller of the sub continent) had not fully anticipated just how insane the welcome at Agra was going to be. In the already crowded station, hundreds of men swarmed on all the foreigners, shouting in our faces, pushing, shoving us towards waiting taxis. Even my silent death stare, coupled with a purposeful stride towards the pre-paid taxi stand, did little to put off the persistent touts who stuck to my side like white on rice.
If anything the screaming, shouting and shoving actually got worse in front of the pre-paid taxi stand and as the crowd reached a new crescendo the utter absurdity of the situation hit me and I started to laugh hysterically. A french woman near me, whom I suspect thought I was mad, looked like she was going to have stroke while waiting for her nearby husband to negotiate a ride to town. I tried to distract her from the scene by asking her how long she had been in India and then understood her terrified look when she responded "Today is the first day".
My first view of the majestic Taj came at sunset on that first day. I ascended several staircases to a roof top restaurant, and literally gasped when I saw the stunning view of the marble monument captured in the pinkish glow of the afternoon light. If you have seen the movie Aladdin, you may remember the scene when Aladdin takes Jasmine up to his makeshift home on the rooftop, pulls back a sheet and reveals a stunning view across the dilapidated rooftops of the city to the glorious palace. My first view of the Taj Mahal reminded me a lot of that scene. The monument is completely mesmerising, especially in the rapidly changing twilight, and I was shocked to discover after I finished my chai masala that I had been staring at the gorgeous view for nearly an hour.
From the vantage point of the roof top restaurant, it soon became obvious that the local wildlife almost matched the number of tourists in Agra. Hundreds of monkeys, or as I have come to think of them disease spreading beasts of satan, scurried from roof to roof scavenging scraps from the abundant waste in the area. The tiny alleys surrounding the Taj Mahal are also home to hundreds of emaciated, snarling stray dogs which made the "focused walking" required to get back to my hotel just that bit more challenging.
I must say that Agra is the first place in India where I have really been struck by the appalling poverty that many in this great nation have to endure. There is immense poverty all around India and to be honest it has never really affected me before. I don't know why the dire living conditions appalled me so much in Agra, perhaps it was the striking juxtaposition of the opulence of the Taj and the revolting open sewers of the surrounding streets...
My second day in Agra started early as I went to visit the Taj Mahal in the dawn light. It was pleasing to see that the Indian Archeological Society is putting the large foreigner entry fee (about $15) to good use, as the entire Taj Mahal complex is beautifully maintained. In some ways, walking through the stunning ornamental gardens towards the Taj felt like returning to a place I had visited many times before. You see so many photos of the gorgeous marble structure, surrounded by perfectly symmetrical gardens and watercourses, that at first you think there is little to surprise you. It is only once you get up close that the astoundingly detailed craftsmanship reveals itself.
In photographs the Taj often appears as a solid white block of a building. Up close, however, you can see the individual pearly grey swirls that differentiate each marble brick from its neighbours. Similarly you need to see the intricately carved marble screens, the calligraphic quotations from the Quran made with inlaid jasper and the amazingly detailed pietra dura (flower designs inlaid in the marble with semi precious stones) of the main chamber to fully appreciate that over 20,000 craftsmen from all over India were involved in creating the most beautiful building on earth.
The symmetry of the design is also hugely impressive as the four faces of the Taj are perfectly identical. Every tree and shrub on the west side of the ornamental garden is mirrored on the east side and the beautiful red sandstone mosque on the west side of the Taj is matched by an identical structure on the east side that exists solely to balance the symmetry of the complex.
The Taj Mahal was built on the banks of the Yamuna River by Shah Jahan in the middle of the 17th century. Built as a memorial to his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, the emperor said it made 'the sun and moon shed tears from their eyes'. Given that Mumtaz Mahal died giving birth to the couple's 14th child, I personally think that building a monument described by Rabindranath Tagore as 'a teardrop on the cheek of eternity' was the least the emperor could do to honor his late wife.
A surprising highlight of my time in Agra was visiting the magnificent ancient fortified city of Fatehpur Sikri which lies 40km west of Agra. Overlooked my many tourists who just do a day trip to the Taj, the red sandstone city of Fatehpur Sikri was built by the Emperor Akbar in the 16th century and is a World Heritage site in its own right. The city with its three palaces and gob-smakingly beautiful Jama Masjid mosque is still in near perfect condition as the ancient city was abandoned not due to earthquakes, but rather lack of water in the local region. The immense mosque, with its stunning 54m high Buland Darwaza (victory gate), is now on par with the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus for the title of "most awe inspiring place of worship" I have ever seen.
As it turned out, the ancient architecture on offer more than made up for the hassles and sanitation (or rather lack there of) in Agra. With the one item on my "must see" list for this trip to India officially ticked off, I was happily looking forward to a less frantic environment down south.
Making my way out of Agra Cantonment train station last week, I realised that even I (an experienced traveller of the sub continent) had not fully anticipated just how insane the welcome at Agra was going to be. In the already crowded station, hundreds of men swarmed on all the foreigners, shouting in our faces, pushing, shoving us towards waiting taxis. Even my silent death stare, coupled with a purposeful stride towards the pre-paid taxi stand, did little to put off the persistent touts who stuck to my side like white on rice.
If anything the screaming, shouting and shoving actually got worse in front of the pre-paid taxi stand and as the crowd reached a new crescendo the utter absurdity of the situation hit me and I started to laugh hysterically. A french woman near me, whom I suspect thought I was mad, looked like she was going to have stroke while waiting for her nearby husband to negotiate a ride to town. I tried to distract her from the scene by asking her how long she had been in India and then understood her terrified look when she responded "Today is the first day".
My first view of the majestic Taj came at sunset on that first day. I ascended several staircases to a roof top restaurant, and literally gasped when I saw the stunning view of the marble monument captured in the pinkish glow of the afternoon light. If you have seen the movie Aladdin, you may remember the scene when Aladdin takes Jasmine up to his makeshift home on the rooftop, pulls back a sheet and reveals a stunning view across the dilapidated rooftops of the city to the glorious palace. My first view of the Taj Mahal reminded me a lot of that scene. The monument is completely mesmerising, especially in the rapidly changing twilight, and I was shocked to discover after I finished my chai masala that I had been staring at the gorgeous view for nearly an hour.
From the vantage point of the roof top restaurant, it soon became obvious that the local wildlife almost matched the number of tourists in Agra. Hundreds of monkeys, or as I have come to think of them disease spreading beasts of satan, scurried from roof to roof scavenging scraps from the abundant waste in the area. The tiny alleys surrounding the Taj Mahal are also home to hundreds of emaciated, snarling stray dogs which made the "focused walking" required to get back to my hotel just that bit more challenging.
I must say that Agra is the first place in India where I have really been struck by the appalling poverty that many in this great nation have to endure. There is immense poverty all around India and to be honest it has never really affected me before. I don't know why the dire living conditions appalled me so much in Agra, perhaps it was the striking juxtaposition of the opulence of the Taj and the revolting open sewers of the surrounding streets...
My second day in Agra started early as I went to visit the Taj Mahal in the dawn light. It was pleasing to see that the Indian Archeological Society is putting the large foreigner entry fee (about $15) to good use, as the entire Taj Mahal complex is beautifully maintained. In some ways, walking through the stunning ornamental gardens towards the Taj felt like returning to a place I had visited many times before. You see so many photos of the gorgeous marble structure, surrounded by perfectly symmetrical gardens and watercourses, that at first you think there is little to surprise you. It is only once you get up close that the astoundingly detailed craftsmanship reveals itself.
In photographs the Taj often appears as a solid white block of a building. Up close, however, you can see the individual pearly grey swirls that differentiate each marble brick from its neighbours. Similarly you need to see the intricately carved marble screens, the calligraphic quotations from the Quran made with inlaid jasper and the amazingly detailed pietra dura (flower designs inlaid in the marble with semi precious stones) of the main chamber to fully appreciate that over 20,000 craftsmen from all over India were involved in creating the most beautiful building on earth.
The symmetry of the design is also hugely impressive as the four faces of the Taj are perfectly identical. Every tree and shrub on the west side of the ornamental garden is mirrored on the east side and the beautiful red sandstone mosque on the west side of the Taj is matched by an identical structure on the east side that exists solely to balance the symmetry of the complex.
The Taj Mahal was built on the banks of the Yamuna River by Shah Jahan in the middle of the 17th century. Built as a memorial to his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, the emperor said it made 'the sun and moon shed tears from their eyes'. Given that Mumtaz Mahal died giving birth to the couple's 14th child, I personally think that building a monument described by Rabindranath Tagore as 'a teardrop on the cheek of eternity' was the least the emperor could do to honor his late wife.
A surprising highlight of my time in Agra was visiting the magnificent ancient fortified city of Fatehpur Sikri which lies 40km west of Agra. Overlooked my many tourists who just do a day trip to the Taj, the red sandstone city of Fatehpur Sikri was built by the Emperor Akbar in the 16th century and is a World Heritage site in its own right. The city with its three palaces and gob-smakingly beautiful Jama Masjid mosque is still in near perfect condition as the ancient city was abandoned not due to earthquakes, but rather lack of water in the local region. The immense mosque, with its stunning 54m high Buland Darwaza (victory gate), is now on par with the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus for the title of "most awe inspiring place of worship" I have ever seen.
As it turned out, the ancient architecture on offer more than made up for the hassles and sanitation (or rather lack there of) in Agra. With the one item on my "must see" list for this trip to India officially ticked off, I was happily looking forward to a less frantic environment down south.
No comments:
Post a Comment