The Taj Mahal - A Dream Come True
It's in my eyes!
You know how sometimes you build a thing up in your mind to the point where the real thing could never live up to the imagined experience? It could be a film that has all the critics raving and leaves you cold, a date with someone you’ve fancied for years who turns out to be a dullard, or a visit to a special place that you’ve dreamed about for years. As we drove towards possibly the most well known landmark in the world that thought crossed my mind, ‘what if it’s a bit lame in the flesh, so to speak?’
Well folks, I can assure you that after almost a lifetime of looking at photos, seeing it in movies, photographs, etc., the Taj Mahal is more amazing in the flesh than I could possibly have imagined! It’s breathtaking!
Again the lovely Khan took the time to fill me in on the history of the place of Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz, of the plans to build an exact copy across the river in black marble for himself, which his son put paid to by locking him up in a jail at Agra Fort so that he couldn’t spend anymore money. I can only imagine how magnificent that would have looked!
The craftsmanship of the place, the fact it took 22 years and 20,000 craftsmen to complete it. How those craftsmen had their fingers chopped off at the end of the job so that they couldn’t replicate their work anywhere else (bit harsh), and how even now 500 years later descendants of those men are still employed on the up keep of the place.
Apparently up to 20,000 visitors come through the gates every day, I was there at 8am and it was pretty crowded already, but somehow the experience wasn’t ruined but the amount of fellow afficionados, the look of awe and wonder on everyone’s faces made it a kind of communal experience.
Days like this I know just how truly blessed I am.
You know how sometimes you build a thing up in your mind to the point where the real thing could never live up to the imagined experience? It could be a film that has all the critics raving and leaves you cold, a date with someone you’ve fancied for years who turns out to be a dullard, or a visit to a special place that you’ve dreamed about for years. As we drove towards possibly the most well known landmark in the world that thought crossed my mind, ‘what if it’s a bit lame in the flesh, so to speak?’
Well folks, I can assure you that after almost a lifetime of looking at photos, seeing it in movies, photographs, etc., the Taj Mahal is more amazing in the flesh than I could possibly have imagined! It’s breathtaking!
Again the lovely Khan took the time to fill me in on the history of the place of Shah Jahan and his wife Mumtaz, of the plans to build an exact copy across the river in black marble for himself, which his son put paid to by locking him up in a jail at Agra Fort so that he couldn’t spend anymore money. I can only imagine how magnificent that would have looked!
The craftsmanship of the place, the fact it took 22 years and 20,000 craftsmen to complete it. How those craftsmen had their fingers chopped off at the end of the job so that they couldn’t replicate their work anywhere else (bit harsh), and how even now 500 years later descendants of those men are still employed on the up keep of the place.
Apparently up to 20,000 visitors come through the gates every day, I was there at 8am and it was pretty crowded already, but somehow the experience wasn’t ruined but the amount of fellow afficionados, the look of awe and wonder on everyone’s faces made it a kind of communal experience.
Days like this I know just how truly blessed I am.
Labels: Travel
posted by JoJo Smith at Monday, February 07, 2011
2 Comments:
It does look truly splendid. And I love the eclectic choice of photographic poses, a bit clichéd (which is a must for one or two,) though beautiful all.
I take no credit at all for the poses, they were all the work of Khan the guide who obviously does the same with every tourist he brings here!
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