Taj Mahal
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Agra,
Uttar Pradesh,
India
Friday, June 26, 2009
This is an investigative blog. No cute little anecdotes, no inspiring tales, no expressions like "heartbreaking“ or “emotional rollercoaster ride". The internet is full of such stuff and Germans are not exactly the world's greatest entertainers to begin with. At the end of the day, I believe research can ultimately spoil any romantic story. (In case you didn’t know, William Wallace didn’t really knock up the English Princess Isabella.)
So let me tell you the true story of the Taj Mahal. Emperor Shah Jahan was ruler of the Mughal Empire in the 17th century. When his wife Mumtaz was taking her last breath, he asked if she had any last wish. “Build me the most beautiful monument of love in the world” was her modest answer. Typical case of “shouldn’t have asked” but now it was too late. Admittedly, saying “no” is a tough call in a situation like this, plus old Jahan felt bad because Mumtaz died giving birth to their 14th child at age 38. So that’s the story behind the allegedly “greatest monument ever built for love”. It took 20,000 workers 22 years to finish the Taj. In the end, Jahan wanted his own mausoleum on the other side of the river. Same design, but built in black marble. Along came his son Aurangzeb, a fellow with a good sense of humor - he praised his father’s creativity and put him in a dark black prison cell (no marble though) with a view on the Taj where he spent the rest of his days.
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The Taj Mahal is in Agra, located 250km from both Jaipur and Delhi is a part of the famous “golden triangle”. Agra itself is an uninspiring industrial city, but the Taj makes it a definite must-visit place. In terms of travel advice… well, as a self-declared savvy traveler I hate to admit it, but stick to the Lonely Planet. In the video you can see the great view from Hotel Karma’s rooftop restaurant and, yes, Joney’s banana lassis are something else. Once you paid 750 Rupees for admission (Indians pay 20) you should cough up an extra 200 for a guide. (Ask for Mustaffah if you want a picture of all 96 Taj postcard shots.)
Books have been filled on the Taj… which doesn’t mean I’ll spare you my two cents: I’m not exactly the most euphoric person out there, but the Taj Mahal simply marvelous. We went at 6am before the tourist crowds arrived. The white palace looks exactly like on pictures, but there is something hypnotizing about the monument that doesn’t let you take your eyes off it. Kipling called it “the embodiment of all things pure”, for me it’s more the emanation of perfect harmony. No matter from what angle or distance you look at it, it always looks balanced and never overbearing or pretentious. (Isn’t that true in general? Don’t we consider only those truly great who don’t constantly rub their greatness in your face?) Anyways, in the morning light, you can see the countless nuances of the white marble; every single building block and every gem in the marble inlay unique, but as a collective the perfect unity – 'e pluribus unum’. I don’t want to push the analogies to far, but I get a similar sense when I look at an Indian bazaar or busy street: ordered chaos. I don’t want to violate the golden 3-paragraph-per-blog-thread-rule so I’ll save this plus my “12 hours in a non-AC bus” and “hitchhiking in India” experiences for future threads.
