It was still dark when we left the Ajanta Hotel in Delhi for
the short taxi ride to the train station. The 6AM-to-8AM journey to Agra was to be the
first on our Indrail pass. Our train was waiting at the platform with a computer-printed
passenger list taped on the outside of each car. We easily found our seats in an
air-conditioned chair car that had airplane-style seats, three on one side of the aisle,
two on the other.
But getting our baggage onto the train and stowing it was
another matter. Before leaving home, we had purchased a large, green, hardsided, rolling
suitcase that we now discovered would not fit through the door of the train car until it
was turned sideways. After manhandling it down the narrow aisle, we found that it would
not fit into the overhead luggage rack, even if I were strong enough to lift it that high.
We put it on the floor in front of our seats, leaving almost no room for our feet.
Luckily, the two seats in front of us were empty, so Rita moved there, and I shoved the
green monster over a little. The train ride was otherwise uneventful, with the train staff
serving us breakfast complete with juice, tea, and water. [Looks
like Allen's way of complaining to Rita about the amount of luggage she brought is to get
her to read this web site.]
In Agra, we moved into a hotel and then visited the Red
Fort, from which we caught our first glimpse of the Taj Mahal.
The Taj Mahal is the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal, second wife of
Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan. She died in 1631 while giving birth to her 14th child, and her
death left Shah Jehan heartbroken. Over the next 22 years, 20,000 people were employed
building the Taj. On its completion, Shah Jehan set out to build a similar mausoleum for
himself out of black marble. He was deposed by his son soon after construction began and
imprisoned in the Red Fort, from which he could see the Taj during the remaining years of
his life. I understand that the son acted because he realized that construction of Shah
Jehan’s mausoleum on the scale he proposed would bankrupt the Mughal treasury. When
he died, his tomb was placed beside that of Mumtaz in the central chamber of the Taj, and
is the only feature which is not symmetrical—it was never intended that he be buried
there, and Mumtaz’s tomb is centered, so his had to be placed off-center.
At 6:30 the next morning, we paid our first visit to the Taj
Mahal itself in time to watch the sunrise paint a series of pale colors on its white
marble. I don’t have sufficient writing skill to adequately describe the Taj and the
feelings it evokes. It is at the same time larger than life, yet ethereal. The building
itself and the four minarets surrounding it are of white marble and stand out sharply
against the red sandstone platform. But I won’t try to describe it further—check
out the pictures. We spent three hours there and still wanted more. We returned to watch
the sun set on the Taj, and I returned at dawn the next day, Friday. After checking out of
the hotel, we made our final visit at sunset, leaving after the Taj had disappeared in the
fading light.
Admission to the Taj is 500 rupees (about $11.10) for
foreigners but we lucked out. Thursday was the first day of the five-day festival of
Diwali, and admission was free. Fridays are always free and always crowded.
Diwali is celebrated with lots of fireworks and with the
lighting of candles and oil lamps. Many buildings are draped with lights—it looks
like Christmas here!
The town of Agra seems to be concentrated into a few busy
business districts with mostly open space between. There are large numbers of cows and
lesser numbers of pigs and goats roaming around town, scavenging food from gutters and
trash bins. The air was hazy with smog throughout our visit. In my mind, in Agra, the Taj
is it. Nothing else compares.
(Written at Umaid Bhawan Hotel, Jaipur)
