Taj Mahal and Agra Fort

I got up at 5:00 AM and got myself ready to catch the sunrise at the Taj Mahal. I started to walk over and was accosted by the usual gaggle of rickshaw drivers. One drove by and said that he was on his way to the Taj Mahal anyway and would take me there for free - he figured it would bring him good luck. I was so touched to finally encounter someone in India who was not on the take that I happily took the ride and rewarded him with a few rupees.

I have never had a burning desire to see the Taj Mahal and since I've been in India have sort of been treating it as something to "cross off the list". I was therefore quite surprised when I stepped through the red sandstone gate, saw the mausoleum at the end of the campus and broke out in goose bumps. Tears even came to my eyes - I don't think that any building (even the Potala Palace) has had such a profound effect on me.

The building, and in fact the entire campus, is perfectly symmetrical, which really appeals to me. As you all know, it was built by a king for his wife after she died and her tomb is placed exactly in the centre of the building. After the king died, his son had a tomb for him put beside his wife's. The king's tomb is the only thing in the entire building that is off-centre and it seems really weird. Father and son didn't exactly see eye-to-eye and I wonder if the son put his tomb there just to mess up the perfection of his father's creation.

I found the building to be much more intense and beautiful from a distance. I'm not sure how to describe this - I guess you just need to see the building in its entirety to really appreciate it. It was nice to see the detail and workmanship up close, but the building seemed to lose its personality at close range. I spent a lot of time sitting on a bench quite a way back just looking at it. The energy there is really wonderful. It was virtually impossible for me to feel like I was visiting a mausoleum - the whole atmosphere just oozes love.

In all, I spent about five hours there. They have a small museum which houses some examples of the stones that are used in the building, as well as some other artifacts from the time it was built. The best part is that they actually have the original drawings of the building - in essence the blueprint - which I thought was very cool. Unfortunately, I couldn't take photos in the museum and I haven't been able to find a photo of this drawing anywhere else.

After I left the Taj, I stopped and had a bite of brunch and headed over to the Agra Fort. This is a very large fort, which was used by the same king who built the Taj as well as many others. It is a combination of architectural styles, about half of which are in the same white marble as the Taj Mahal. It was a very impressive compound.

I was pretty worn out by the end of the day so headed back to the hotel. My rickshaw driver was a really cute old man who badgered me relentlessly about going to the bazaar. They have these deals where if they take their fares to a store, they get "baksheesh" (kickback) from the store owners. I had to argue with him all the way home to convince him not to stop. It's too bad for him - I so liked him in the beginning that I was going to give him some extra rupees, but he irritated me so much that I just paid him the agreed price.

Back at the hotel I went for a swim and read by the pool for a while. It's certainly not Club Med, but the pool is clean and it was really wonderful to just float around in it to escape the heat and humidity. All in all it was a very nice day.

I must run now although I know I've forgotten a bunch of stuff. I'm in the same shop as yesterday and this time the owner and his friends have bought drinks to share with me. (I get vodka and Fanta.) They were very generous with me last night and again tonight, so I think I should sign off and chat with them for a while. I'm sure the store owner has an ulterior motive, but nothing I can't handle :-).