Taj Mahal

Have to admit, I was worried before seeing the Taj Mahal. I thought it would disappoint me. I mean, after SO much hype, how could anything ever live up to the expectation?

Miraculously, the Taj manages to live up to it all and more.

First, logistics. To get to the Taj you have to first get to the walking point. After that, there's only rickshaws and government buses allowed. You can take one to a certain point, and then you have to continue on foot, no vehicles allowed, so really, the drivers aren't trying to cheat you. It's 750 Rs. currently for foreigners to get into the Taj Mahal. You enter, and there are two lines, one for men, one for women, because you have to be patted down and go through a security screen. They look through your bag, and and then you finally get a glimpse of the entrance gate.

*Note, this is the story told us by our guide, not sure of its validity

There are three gates, one built for each wife of Shah Jahan, the ruler who had the Taj built. You see, one wife he had, Mumtaz Mahal, his third wife, was stricken ill, on her deathbed, and supposedly her husband asked her what he could do to prove his love for her to the world. She gave him three answers: 1) Take care of my children (she was the only wife to have children, and she gave him plenty) 2) Build a monument to me as such the world has never seen and 3) Never marry again. According to Muslim tradition a man must take four wives to please God, but he kept him promise, and enver married again. And of course, built the Taj Majal as a burial site for her. He is now buried there as well.

It's a beautiful, romantic story, and the Taj is enchanting. The gardens leading up to it are stunning, and the Taj itself is exactly what I always pictured my palace looking like when I wanted to be a princess as a little girl. It's strange how something you've seen a thousand times in photographs and look so different and strike you in a powerful way when you see it in person. Van Gogh has the same affect on me.

Anyway, inlaid to the Taj Mahal is stonework, all the the many figures of flowers and plants, many of them alternating blooming and wilting, are made by inlaying semiprecious stones into the work. The same family that once made these pieces in the Taj are still using the same processes to repair the Taj, as well as to make their own pieces to sell to wealthy families. The Taj is closed every Sunday for cleaning.

While inside the Taj, walking around the grave, one of my earrings slipped off. I of course started looking for it, rather urgently, because it was one of my late grandmother's and so it has a lot of sentimental value. However, my leaning down led to a gaggle, maybe even a googleplex of Indian people gathering around me, smushing me, and basically ending all hope of finding the piece trying to see if I was ok. I freaked, and ran away, sans earring. I was pretty upset about it for a few minutes, but then decided I would eventually lose some of her pieces anyway, it wasn't expensive, and if I was going to lose it anywhere, she'd want it to be in the Taj Mahal. The river in the back of the Taj is a beautiful site, and luckily I enjoyed the whole rest of my stay there.