Taj Mahal!

I don’t know how it happened but I am going to fix it now. Taj Mahal!! We completely forgot to tell you of our experience about that great monument. So here it is:

On the train to Agra where Taj Mahal is we meet these really nice guys who we talked to on a part of our 12-hour journey. One of them lived in Agra and of course he knew our purpose going to his hometown. He told us though that he had kind of growing to hate the building that everybody where so excited about because on every fieldtrip he went to as a kid with his school they went to see Taj Mahal. Of course he was happy though to have us over to see it. He said he would wake us up in the morning when we would be getting closer so we could see it out of the train window.

The morning after we where up pretty early (can’t really sleep long on those Indian trains). So we where wide awake when we drove past Taj Mahal, it was quite far from us but it was beautiful to see in the morning sun. Every Indian around us where really excited to show it to us and you could see they where all really proud of it, as an old man who sat next to me said “this is a building made out of love” with this special look in his eye.
For those who don’t know the story behind Taj Mahal, it was built by Emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth in 1631. He started building it the same year and it was not finished until over 20 years later or in 1653.
I had to agree with them the mausoleum was beautiful and I hadn’t even come close to it yet. Over 20.000 people worked on the building but the fact that many of them had their hands or thumbs amputated after it was finished so the greatness of the Taj could never be repeated stuck me a little.

Going to see it you could not bring anything with you inside. No food or something that could spoil the environment, no motor vehicles are aloud nearer to the Taj then 10,400-sq-km to try to reduce pollution.

Finally seeing it close was amazing. I don’t know what I was expecting and I really loved it but I think maybe the craziness around it like it was the most beautiful building in the world got me down a little. We stayed there for a few hours walking around the sight and taking pictures. I really wanted to stay there to see the sunset but Valli´s big stomach had to have some food so we left an hour before; I kind of regret that now. Have been told it’s really cool to see it chance colours when the sun is going down. Hm… maybe next time!

At least this is another thing I can take of my list.

Taj Mahal check!!

Anna Sigga.