Road Trip to Agra!

Welcome to the Taj

A sudden burst of inspiration on Saturday night, caused me to ask everyone if they would be interested in taking a five hour ride to Agra to see the world famous Taj Mahal. Well, I am glad everyone said yes even if it meant waking up at a god awful hour of 3 am.

We all piled into our taxi and made our way to Agra, picking up our new friend Namit on the way there. Between Abhay snapping awful photos of us sleeping, the crazy monkey that humped the window and the overturned truck on the road, we were off to a great start.

I refused to pay the 750 rupees foreigner fee. Why should I? I live in Delhi as well temporarily at least. Instead, we got Vasu to buy us all tickets for the Indian rate of 150 rupees. Tiny victory, that was until the guard asked me who the chief minister of Delhi was. Vasu always to the rescue, Sheila Dixit! We all made our way in with our helpful guide.

The Taj Mahal is something else. Sadly, the pollution has caused this beautiful structure to become yellow. The Taj Mahal is probably the result of one of the most famous love stories of all time.

Emperor Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal in memory of his late wife Mumtaz Mahal. His real name is actually Shahboudin but ask Roshan, his answer would be Mister Shah Jahan ofcourse. This majestic structure is made of marble and has some of the most precious stones embedded into it. Architects from all over Persia and the world were called upon to help build this structure.

Overall, in spite of all the goofy pictures that we were taking, I was still quite disappointed. I know! Here I am staring at this magnificent tomb and all I could think was how the yellow tint and pollution was eroding the original beauty of it. Its magnificent! Spectacular! But, still the pollution has taken away the beauty of it. I did not ooh or aah at the Taj. I was deep in thought as I looked around trying to imagine what the Taj looked like to the British when they first laid their eyes on the Taj.



A definite highlight was that I was able to see the descendants of the artisans who laid the stones into the marble continue their tradition. Their work is shrouded in mystery and they refused the share their secret with two pretty girls trying to woo them into it. Mind you, we probably would have forgotten it quite quickly. Just as well.

With all due sadness, I said good bye to my old and new friends that night. Back to reality and back to work.