Agra and The Taj Mahal

As I mentioned in my previous post, I spent last weekend in Agra, visiting tourist sites and it was a once in a lifetime experience.

This trip was not planned by our program-it was something the 16 girls (including myself) had put together on our own, so it was the first time “leaving the nest” without our supervisors. We left Jaipur on Friday afternoon via the small bus we had rented and prepared for our 6 to 7 hour drive. But before we even arrived in Agra, something interesting happened! We had asked the bus driver to pull over when he saw an AirTel service site so we could put money on our prepaid Indian phones, and the first site he saw was about an hour and a half outside of Jaipur, nestled into a tiny town along the highway. So, we pulled over and the four of us who needed to charge our phones got out of our now quite conspicuous bus. When we began to reload our phones, there were about ten to twelve people standing around and they of course stared at us, which we are used to by now. After ten minutes, there were about 20 people standing around us. And when we left 25 minutes later, there were about 55 people crowded around us, just trying to get a look! Because it was just a tiny town, we were quite the novelty, and people were literally pulling over on the side of the road-its very possible that most of these people have never seen a white person before. So, while it can make me a little uncomfortable, I just have to remember that they mean no harm, and they are just curious; all I can do is have a sense of humor about it.

We arrived in Agra around 9pm on Friday, and decided as a group to get up at 5am the next morning so we could see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. While it was difficult to wake up that early, it was completely worth the experience. The Taj Mahal was BEAUTIFUL. It literally does not seem real until you are standing on it. We did get there in time for sunrise, so we were able to see the color of the marble change with the sunrise, and see the sun come up over the river. We spent a good amount of time touring the premises and seeing all of the stunning details, gardens, and guesthouses. While the structure itself is beautiful, the story behind it is also remarkable. It is actually a tomb for Mumtaz Mahal, the wife of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan . She died shortly after giving birth to their 14^th child, and Shah Jahan was devasted, so he spent twenty two years and the equivalent of 70 million U.S. dollars building the Taj Mahal for his beloved wife. There are a few rumors around the story, like that Shah’s hair turned grey overnight, or that he planned to construct a black Mahal for his own tomb, but was not able to because his son imprisoned him for the remainder of his life. It has been called “A teardrop on the face of humanity” by Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, and is truly one of the saddest, most romantic things I have ever seen. As you can see, I took quite a few pictures =)

We also saw Agra Fort later in the day, which is another amazing sight simply because of the architecture. It is hard to believe that these massive creations were built with so much thought and detail, yet without the technology that we have today. Finally, on our way back to Jaipur on Sunday, we stopped at Fatehpur Sikri, which was the Mughal capital for only fourteen years, after which it was abandoned due to lack of water resources. Here are some pictures from The Fort (you can see my traditional outfit, and also notice the tiny view of the Taj in the picture with my sunglasses on)

And some pictures from the palace at the abandoned capital, including an actual snake charmer!

The amount of time, resources, energy, thought, and money spent on all of these designs made them extremely significant and meaningful during their eras, and they remain noteworthy for the same reasons. Because we no longer have to sacrifice so much in order to achieve a major piece of architecture, I wonder if it is even possible to build a meaningful, beautiful structure like these in today’s world. This concept makes me appreciate them not only for their aesthetics, but for their impact on culture and history.

Here is one more picture for you: the obligatory shot of myself in front of the Taj Mahal =)