My Visit to a Charismatic Taj Mahal

Angelica Cullen (Germany)
Visited: March, 18th .02.

A life long desire of viewing Taj-a beauty pageant with my own eyes was a most cherished dream of my life. On my visit to India with my husband Jim, I got an opportunity to achieve my this long awaiting craving. We had booked our tour through a travel agent taking up a tour package of 6 nights and 7 days covering the destination of Delhi, Jaipur, Pushkar and of course Agra.

I had read so much about the Taj through a slew of books written on this majestic monument- that Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan built this white marvel of beauty for his wife who died giving birth to their fourteenth child in a span of 18 years. Almost 20,000 craftsmen were engaged on this masterpiece continuously for 22 years. I am always in stupefaction that how-cum a queen can under take so much of pain but, may be this is only true love. Taj Mahal is a souvenir of the love of a king for his queen Mumtaz Mahal who could hearten such a monument and also of the king himself who could trace his passion for his wife over the horizon

We reached Taj Mahal at about noon. There was austere security at the gate - we had to go through about 2 to 3 rounds of security checks. They were so strict that except video and still cam nothing was allowed inside the premises of the Taj. We then left our things in the tourist bus and just took our cameras. We headed towards the magical wonder and were absolutely awestruck by its splendorous beauty, nothing could match the absolute sublimity of viewing this "feat" of pulchritude firsthand. It was huge, much taller than my imaginations, making its visitors tiny.

There were hundred's of uniformed school kids at the Taj Mahal. To my astonishment one kid approached us and smiled saying, "Hello, How are you?" and later asked to write my name in his workbook, just in fraction of second we were surrounded by many children asking our autograph, I thoroughly enjoyed this moment -a feeling like a celebrity. I also enjoyed my photo sessions on a binding seat where Princess Diana sat in front of Taj. Something that was strange - though it was India- to take a video shoot you could only go as far as the first steps from the entrance gate. With a still camera you can walk all the Taj premises. I guess due to the harmful "video-rays" the Taj Mahal might fall down. Anyway, feeling defiant against humdrum beaurocracy I held my camera in and got some great shots- isn't it great.

It was a great sight to watch a perfect symmetry in the construction on both sides of the Taj, replica mosque on either side, there is symmetry in every thing. That probably explains the attractiveness of the structure. Another attraction worth mentioning was going to the Taj Museum as it stores some of the "blueprint" used in its erection Our guide told us the marble used in the construction of Taj was of the best kind. It is non-porous i.e. will not stain no matter what you spill on it, hard cannot be chip off and light passes through. Inside the Taj where lies the grave of the king and the queen in peace, it was quite dark, the guide put on a flashlight near one of the walls - and the marble appeared to reflect the light. He also showed how the Cornelio stones glows when a light flash on top of the flowers made out of semi-precious stones- no blues or greens appear anymore - just red.

Some of the people who had been there before said that the marble doesn't seem as white now - but to me, it's all white really a 'magnum opus' one structure that I will always cherish through out my life.