The Taj Mahal

Then we decided to go to Agra to see the world famous Taj Mahal. We went there on Thursday as we were told on Fridays Taj Mahal will be closed. We started early in the morning and reached Agra by noon. As soon as we stepped out we were surrounded by these so called guides. Somehow we squeezed our way out and proceeded to see the Taj Mahal. After taking the tickets and going through a wall of photographers, offering us the best pictures in the world, we reached the entrance and saw the magnificent Taj Mahal right ahead of us, the second name for love. But somehow I couldn’t find it as magnificent as I have seen it in the pictures. It looked a little dull and not so milky white. Thanks to pollution!. To my relief I was told, once the rain starts the Taj will get a little more of its original color back as the dust and dirt will be washed away by the rain. The water fountains had only some drops of water in them and the whole setting did not look that impressive. In short it was nothing like the Taj Mahal I have seen in pictures.
But Taj Mahal is still Taj Mahal, of course. I remembered reading the beautiful novel “Beneath a Marble Sky”, by John Shors. We went inside and had a look. The guide inside the tomb told us the real tombs are down below and we can’t see them. The art works are needless to say beautiful. There were so many beautiful carvings/paintings of flowers on the marble walls. I saw a tourist trying to copy those pictures in her note pad.

And then we came out and reached almost the gate to go outside, my son suddenly remembered he forgot the camera bag, including batteries somewhere inside the Taj. We had a second tour of Taj Mahal because of our lost camera bag. The security people got the bag and after questioning my son for some time they let him have the bag. I was waiting nearby the shoe stand as they ran out on tokens to keep the shoes safe. Waiting for ten minutes felt like ages but I was more than happy to see him coming back with the bag.
We were so tired and hungry and decided to go to the nearby restaurant to have lunch, it was past 2.30 already.