The Taj Mahal

It’s been a few days since we went actually, but a few moderately interesting things happened there so let’s give it a bit of space all for itself.

We wanted to get to the Taj at Sunrise, but had a bit of confusion because none of us knew precisely when it happens. It’s not a time of day Joe or I are that familiar with. I thought it would probably be around 6, Varen thought getting there for 7.30 would be about right. In the end we set off at half 6, still confused because although the sunrise hadn’t happened it was light outside. Very odd.

The Taj itself sits beside a park, which you have to walk through in order to reach it (automobiles not allowed as part of Agra’s, frankly failing, attempt to curb pollution.) The park was quiet, not very full, with genuine morning people getting on with their routines. Monkeys and stray dogs scampered about, as per the norm , and after about 10 minutes we reached the ticket booth. Tourists pay 750 rupees to see the Taj, of which 500 is a special Agra Development tax. There must be thousands of foreign tourists visiting the site every day , generating an enormous amount of cash for this fund - I would be extremely interested to know where it goes, not to developing Agra from the look of things.

We were also given hospital style shoe protectors, which Joe suggested was a handy way of ensuring the marble floors get a good daily polishing.

The security at the Taj Mahal is easily the most strict we’ve come across, verging on paranoid. It’s run by army personnel, who take the possibility of attack on their beautiful monument very seriously indeed. Luckily there was no contraband on me, the worst my stony faced searcher could find was some rubbish, which she threw on the floor, presumably to stop me littering at some later date. Joe had a more stressful time with a bluff colonel. Having spent 5 minutes talking the man into letting him keep our sun cream, he was sent away to lock up the laptop, which meant a 10 minute walk in the opposite direction. Second time round and another frisk, another bag search. This time our paperback novels were flagged up, waved around and declared criminal. I’m not sure what on earth they thought we planned to do with them, but unluckily I never got the chance to ask as at this point the colonel came back and shushed him through, ignoring the pleas of his book-hating colleague.

It was worth all the fuss - the Taj Mahal is just about perfect. I loved it. Inside we took a peek at the tomb itself, but we spent most of our time outside, drinking in every detail picked out in sparkling marble. Afterwards we walked slowly back through the gardens, past the elegant waterways and back into chaotic, noisy Agra to drink some beer and eat toast and honey for breakfast.