The Taj Mahal - India 4.

Doesn't do it justice, no picture can.

They say you haven't seen India until you've seen the Taj Mahal.

Yeah right. Pass the salt, I need a large grain.

Seen the pictures. Seen the documentary. Seen the photos of Princess Diana sitting outside looking lonely. Tourist trap.

How wrong can you be?

We were in Delhi. Agra is 400 km away. We drove in a comfortable car provided by Nobel Tours. We were looking forward to seeing the Indian countryside. As we left Delhi it was blanketed in a smog-laden fog . The suburbs were endless and grey. Beyond the suburbs houses gradually morphed into miles of even greyer factories and more, and more and still more. It's not a picturesque journey.

Hotel Crystal Sarovar* in Agra was modern, multi-storied and very swish. Smiley staff in snazzy green uniforms, bowed and Namaste-ed us. A young man showed us to our room. He went to the curtained window and announced that this room had a view of the Taj Mahal. He swooshed back the curtains and... wow... it was like layers of dirty grey veils were hanging in front of the window.

"Fog." He explained. "So sorry lady and gentleman. Perhaps tomorrow."

The Entrance

Our guide arrived and swooped us off to the Agra Fort. It's a city within a city. Red sandstone fortifications surround it but, once in the gate, there are gardens, fountains and white marble pavillions. And a place where the Moghul Shahs could bathe in a fine, sandstone pool called Hauz-i-Jehangir which we were informed meant... bath tub.

Then it was off to the garden of the Taj Mahal. Ourselves and several hundred other tourists, most of them Indians in jewel colours.

Shah Jahan

Our first glimpse of the Taj was through a red sandstone arch. It looked tiny.

But, that's an illusion, an intentional optical illusion. Those builders knew what they were at. Once you go through the arch it looks so magnificent that you forget that you're milling about in a crowd with hundreds of others.

No photograph does it justice.

No video, no film, no documentary.

It looks ethereal.

Like it's floating on air.

It brought tears to my eyes.

NO photo does it justice

And the closer you get to it the more lovely it becomes. Up close you see the the colourful flowers of Pietra Dura, the marble latticework, the minarets, the exquisite Arabic calligraphy trying to describe it is impossible, adjectives fail miserably. You just have to see it for yourself.

Flowers made from precisely cut coloured stones

Arabic writing - abstract artists eat your hearts out!

It's also a place that made me feel wistful and sad. Shah Jahan built it as a tomb for his favourite wife. The guides make jokes to the men about doing something equally wonderful for their wives. But that they'd need to be fabulously wealthy to compete with Shah Jahan.

Mumtaz the Shah's favourite wife

There's something about it that puts me in mind of Bollywood movie romances where dashingly handsome young men declare love to stunningly beautiful women. They sing in fields studded with flowers. They dance in splendid palaces. They flirt against backgrounds of beautiful scenery. But that's Bollywood for you. In reality the lives of Indian women are very restricted. And violence threatens any woman who steps out of line.

Mumtaz was Shah Jahan's favourite wife. That means there were more wives. In death she inspired him to build the Taj Mahal. I hope he treated her well when she was alive.

* AGRA  HOTEL CRYSTAL SAROVAR https://www.sarovarhotels.com/crystal-sarovar-premiere-agra/

I'd recommend this hotel. The rooms would have great views on a clear day. service excellent if a hint formal for my taste. Food was excellent.

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