All Boys India Trip 09: The Taj Mahal (post #1 of 3 with lots of pictures!)

The Taj Mahal. It is the one landmark of India to which everyone is familiar. Yet, for all the years I lived in India, I did not visit the Taj until a return visit to see Mom & Dad. It was the same for Phil - he only saw the Taj after he no longer lived in India. As Phil alluded to, Tony described the Taj as being like a lily which grows in the middle of a swamp. Approaching the Taj we walked down these narrow decrepit streets, lined with stores and vendors, eventually going through a gate (after buying tickets at the tourist price - about 2000 % of the Indian price) and voila we were on these spacious kept grounds surrounded by this amazing architecture. The Taj isn't just the single building everyone recognizes but rather a whole large (approx 3 acre) complex surrounded by red sandstone walls on three sides and the river on the 4th side. The main entrance is a monumental structure also built primarily of marble. At the far end of the grounds against the river stands the Taj Mahal in its entire splendor. Also at this far end of the complex are two more large red sandstone buildings that are open to either side of the Taj. Their backs parallel the eastern and western walls and the buildings are precise mirror images of each other. The Taj was built as a tomb for Shah Jahan's third wife (his favorite) after she died during the birth of their 14th child (in 18 years! Gee what a surprise she would die you dummy!) It is said to have taken about 22 years to complete - more than half of that time for building the tomb itself. One estimate puts the cost of construction in current dollars as being in the trillions!
As expected it was another stinking hot day - it felt good for about 2 minutes after the too cold 3 hour AC chair car train ride. In spite of the weather there were lots of people visiting the monument. We took lots of pictures, even managing to get some inside the mausoleum where you are not supposed to take pictures. Phil's camera was sensitive enough to capture images in spite of the darkness inside. (The Taj Mahal site is also open each month on the night of the full moon and the 2 nights before and after. That would be an awesome sight to see!) We eventually had taken enough pictures and endured enough heat so made our way back to the rickshaw, asking our driver to take us somewhere with GOOD air conditioning and good food. The air conditioning wasn't the greatest but the food was great!

Randy's view of Merv, James and me, walking upto the West Gate, the most used entrance to the Taj.

My view of the gate.

Here we had just walked through the gate, pretty amazed at how big and clean the grounds were and wondering where the main event was hiding.

Grounds keepers doing their thing in 43C heat. (110F)

It's a green mower but I don't see a "John Deere" logo anywhere.

It was beautiful here but we're still looking for "it".

Almost there....

Here we are looking at the inside of either the North or South gate.

Finally we arrive at the main entrance and can see some white marble in the distance.

My first look at her through the camera.

I zoom in as much as I can...

.. and James is first to venture in.

Looking at her from inside the main entrance.

Merv and Randy come on through.

Finally, we were there. It had taken me 44 years, 16 of which I had lived in India. How could it be that I had never been here? The Taj was beautiful! My family had taken us on countless trips all over India when we were kids, just never to Agra, never to the Taj Mahal. I wondered what I would have thought of her as a kid. It would probably have been no big deal to me back then, perhaps just another vacation? At least now I appreciated what I was looking at. One of the ancient wonders of the world. It was pretty amazing!