It's early morning in Agra, home to one of the seven great wonders of the Modern World- The Taj Mahal. And it's sometime in the middle of August, the thunder clouds have all but swallowed the sun. The air is damp and moist, the rain clouds will soon burst, and we need to hurry. In the middle of this confusion, some onlookers decide to stone a stray dog. Makes me wonder who is stray! Almost unexpectedly a herd of buffaloes cross our path. I am with a group of tourists who've come from the Basque region of Pampalona in the north of Spain. Javier, the leader has a look of disbelief on his face. Aracelli winces, Maria simply laughs, while Fermin decides to capture it all on film.
We are at the entrance of one of the most widely photographed monuments- the Taj Mahal- a monument built to enshrine the body of Shah Jehan’s favourite wife-Mumtaz who died while giving birth to his fourteenth child in 1631. Grief stricken, he decided to built this marvelous monument in white marble in her memory. Architects and labourers were hired from all over, the marble was shipped from Makrana in Rajasthan, precious stones and gems were imported from the Asia and Europe, this painstaking exercise took all of twenty years and twenty thousand workers before being completed in 1653 A.D.
We go past detectors and security guards, modern day gadgetry designed to keep terrorists at bay. Our guide, a wizened old man with a flowing beard starts narrating his gospel truth version about how, where, when and why this earth shaking monument was built, I choose not to listen. Soon we are at the main gates, the Taj Mahal is only a footstep away. The sun still doesn't show up. The Taj Mahal does.
Tagore described the Taj as `a tear on the face of eternity.' First time visitors react no differently, most exhibiting a look of disbelief, followed by long moments of studied silence. It's almost as if Father Time has stopped ticking and all stands still, putting paid to the saying, time and tide waits for no one. At the Taj it seems like it does. Our guide nudges us to move. Past the symmetrical gardens laid out in Charbagh style (four parts), they represent water, milk, wine and honey. Dividing it into four parts are running streams of water. We move to the main quadrangle.
At the entrance to the dome, Chaudhuri our remarkable guide now takes out his torch and lights a spot which he asks us to examine, it's here that I see an inlay form of architecture also known as `pietra-durra' in which precious were inlaid to form perfect patterns of flowers and other intricate designs. The mausoleum of Mumtaz lies down below not in the middle but at the end of the rectangle. There are Islamic inscriptions from fourteen chapters of the Quran, with ninety-nine names adorning the tomb of Mumtaz.
The sun has finally managed to make a dent through the clouds, I make out the distinct outline of the Agra Fort in the distance, it's from a prison room inside this impressive fort that the man who envisioned and built the Taj, the Grand Emperor Shah Jehan spent his last days. Imprisoned by his own son, the Emperor had one dream unfulfilled, that of erecting the Black Taj on the other side of the river Yamuna.
Years later I am again at the Taj Mahal, and enjoy an unobstructed picture perfect right angle view of this magnificent monument from the Amar Vilas Palace, a boutique property at a handshaking distance from the Taj. The overpowering mesmerizing effect remains the same. Like it was the first time.
One dream remains unfulfilled though- that of seeing the Taj on a moonlit night...
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