Me in Agra

I long ago gave up the need to have a lot of pictures of myself in front of various landscapes and landmarks; I know what I look like and so do my friends and family. It's not that I never want pictures of myself  -- before selfie was even a word, I used to take them occasionally when I traveled, by balancing my camera on some rock or piece of furniture and setting the timer. And I do use my phone once in a while -- I took a few selfies at Petra, after I'd finished the climb to the Monastery on foot and I was feeling rather proud of myself, for example. 

But I have at least fifty (unnecessary) pictures of myself in front of the Taj Mahal, and even more at the Agra Fort, because the guide kept grabbing my camera and taking them. I understand that most tourists probably ask him to take pictures, but I couldn't get him to understand that I didn't particularly want them. In the end I just smiled and posed.

At the Agra Fort, I think he was just trying to hurry me along, because sometimes when I'd say wait, I want a picture of that, he'd try to take it for me. So it became a kind of tug of war, and I didn't always win. I ended up with fewer photos than I might have had otherwise of the things I wanted to take pictures of, and so many pictures of myself that even my mother might have found it excessive.

Don't blame this one on me

This is the inside of the Taj Mahal. No photographs are allowed inside, and after berating other tourists who were breaking the rules, my guide took this picture on my phone.

He explained that photos were banned because they needed to keep the crowds moving, but we weren't blocking anyone. (A kind of dubious justification if you ask me, but he didn't.)

So the quality is what we deserved under the circumstances, but honestly you can't really see that much inside. It's sumptuously decorated, with elaborate carvings and inlaid semiprecious stones on the walls, beneath Persian arches and that massive dome. But it's dark and hot and very, very crowded, so you can appreciate the craftsmanship outside much better.

And of course, it is a tomb. Muslim tradition forbids elaborate decoration of graves, so the sarcophagi behind those elaborate marble screens are empty; the actual graves of Shah Jahan and the wife he built the monument for, Mumtaz Mahal, are underground. (She died giving birth to their 14th child, and, honestly, who can blame her?) 

The Taj up close

Those petals on the top of the main dome are an inverted lotus flower, representing Hinduism. The crescent moon at the top is for Islam.

I know you already know what it looks like...

...but here it is again anyway, in a somewhat less claustrophobic mood.

The scaffolding around the minaret is for cleaning. I like it; it makes it more of a real place and not just a picture postcard (from back in the days when we actually sent postcards.)

Great Gate detail

If you're thinking this looks an awful lot like a mosque, complete with calligraphic verses from the Koran, that's not a coincidence.

I probably knew that Shah Jahan, the emperor who built the Taj Mahal, was Muslim, but I never really thought of the Taj as an Islamic landmark. But that's exactly what it is. The Mughals, who ruled India from the 16th to the 18th centuries, were a Central Asian people claiming descent from both Tamerlane and Genghis Khan. Though Shah Jahan himself was not all that tolerant of non-Muslims, the Mughal culture was a fusion of Hinduism and Islam, reflected in art and architecture.

I don't see a lot of Hindu influence here, but there are lotus motifs all over the Taj Mahal, acknowledging the Hindu sacred flower.

The Great Gate

This is the entrance to the gardens; the Taj Mahal is at the far end on the banks of the Yamuna river. It's the only marble building in the complex -- the others, like this, were built of sandstone.

Booties

Not only do most of the visitors have to stand in a ridiculously long line, they do so while wearing these protective covers over their shoes.

Which means that you have to walk very carefully so you don't slip on the marble.

With regard to the previous post

I preferred that dreamy vision of the Taj Mahal in the distance, because this was the experience up close -- somewhat less romantic.

In fairness, once you were through this gate, the grounds are large and it's much less crowded. Until you actually go inside, that is. One perk of spending so much money on this tour was that it included a VIP ticket to the Taj, which meant a shorter line going through the metal detectors, and a much, much, MUCH shorter line going into the monument. The non-VIP line wrapped most of the way around the building; I had to shuffle up one staircase and I was in.

The Taj Mahal

This was the best view -- seen from the Agra Fort, late in the afternoon, when the city haze turned the famous domes into something out of a dream.

The Road To Agra

I had other things to do this weekend and so never managed to tackle Agra. My pictures are almost all of the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort, but I'm not sure I could have managed to capture the chaos of the streets of Agra with a mere camera anyway.

Each of my guides, when hearing my itinerary, wanted to know why I was going to Bharatpur one day, then driving all the way back to Jaipur, only to drive back to Agra the next day. It would have made more sense to stay in Agra and then go to Bharatpur -- less than an hour away -- from there.

And if I'd had more time to plan, I probably would have done that. But I didn't intend to go to Agra at all in the beginning; I planned my days around Jaipur. I booked the Agra trip right before I left because it seemed silly to go all the way to India and miss the Taj Mahal. It was $400 for the one day trip to Agra and back from Jaipur, and I wasn't looking forward to all of those hours in a car, but who knows if I'll ever get back to India? So I gritted my teeth and booked it.

And I'm so glad I did. The hair-raising drive back in the rain may have taken years off my life, but I loved the view of India I got from the highways and rest stops. And now I never have to go back to Agra, and that's a good thing, too. If I had been staying there, I think I would have hated it, and it would have colored how I felt about India. It was too much, in every possible way.

Streets of Jaipur

So much of my time in India was spent driving somewhere that a lot of what I saw of Indian life took place on the street or along the highway, and the pictures I could take were shot through dirty windows while speeding down a highway. Some of them came out, most of them didn't. Some of them aren't great but are interesting enough to post anyway, because when I see them I smile and remember, Yeah, that's what it was like.

Faces of India