The Most Beautiful Building in the World

This is going to be Taj Mahal porn I am afraid, because I cannot choose my favourite photo of the place. I took about 8,000 and culled them to about 4,000. I will not impose quite that many on you, but I am posting quite a few, because the change of light and angle makes each photo a little different and all photos beautiful.

We arrived here in the dark, pre-dawn and its misty emergence was mysterious and lovely. Then the sun rose, and the Royal Palace (which is what "Taj Mahal" means in Hindi) took on a more tangible form.

However much a chiche it is to travel to Agra to see this beauty, it does not disappoint.

You have been warned.......

Tea Time

Our guide decided we could handle something a little off the beaten track, so took us down a tiny narrow lane that, despite its emaciated width, carried several lanes of traffic: motorbikes, bicycle rickshaws, motorized tuktuks, small cars, and the odd cow wandering through the melee. Our lovely driver Raj stopped at the edge and guide Nadim, gestured for us to cross, which was easier gestured than done, but we are intrepid Canadians who have lived in London and travelled to Hanoi, so weaving through this craziness was achieved without incident.

There we were introduced to the 3rd generation of masala chai makers, there in a tiny, narrow shop-stall with barely room for someone to walk past between it and the flow of traffic honking past. Tea was ordered, and into the hot milky brown liquid were poured two handfuls of spices, then boiled until foaming over gas jets.

A theatrical pour of 4 feet in length from pan to bowl to be strained, then we were each given a small earthenware receptacle full of tea. Fingers burning, we were told how to hold our cups, before drinking the excellent tea. When asked to throw away our clay cups, we asked if we could keep them instead. Nodding they rushed to give us new replacement cups so that the ones we drank from could be thrown away. I quite wanted to keep the one I drank from, and not waste a new one, but that is apparently not done, as we were guests and to be treated to new, unadulterated cups.

Then another death-defying road crossing back to the car and home in the dusk, another memory added to the lexicon.

First real view

Our first proper view of the Taj Mahal was from the Mehtab Bagh, across the Yamuna River. the Mehtab Bagh is a garden, and was the last of 11 gardens built along the river by the Emperor Babur, the first mughal ruler and a direct descendant of both Genghis Khan and Timur (also known as Tamerlane). He was #1 in the mughal line, then came Humayun, then Akbar, then Jehangir and then Shah Jahan, who was the one who built the Taj Mahal.

So the garden Mehtab Bagh was in existence long before the Taj Mahal was built. Shah Jahan chose the site for the Taj Mahal so that it fit the exact size and shape of the square garden on the other side of the river, the Muslim Mughals being very into symmetry in their building designs.

While we are at the whole family dynasty thing, Shah Jahan's son was the last of the mughal emperors, who fought his brothers, had his father imprisoned (then buried in the Taj Mahal), overextended himself in empire building and caused the decline and fall of the entire empire.

But back to the garden. It fell into disrepair and was just a big sand pit, which threatened the Taj Mahal's marble, so the garden was reinstated and is now a wonderful place from which to view the mausoleum.

This was built by the edge of the river so that materials could be barged in, and water could be hauled up. It also makes the place looks as if it is floating. We stayed to watch the light of a perfect sunset move over the Taj Mahal, along with kites soaring above its dome, a few other travellers, a cow herd in red and a lone cow. It was a magical first experience of this beauty.

Teaser

We were promised a Taj Mahal view from our room, which we got.

Baby Taj

Even though the glorious Itimad-ud-Daulah was built first, it is nicknamed the Baby Taj because it resembles its more famous relation the Taj Mahal. But because the baby came first, it gets talked about first.

So here it is:

Everyone who knows much abut the Taj Mahal knows it was built as a mausoleum by the Shah Jahan for his favourite wife, known as Mumtaz. But few don't know (or at least I didn't know) that Mumtaz's grandfather was originally a Persian nobleman who became the Indian emperor's chief minister. His daughter married Jahingir, the fourth Mughal emperor. Shah Jahan was Jahingir's son.

Anywho, Jahingar's wife (Nur Jahan) was a devoted wife and daughter. She built a tomb for her husband in Pakistan, and then she built the Baby Taj for her father and mother 4 years before the Taj Mahal was even started. It was the first Mughal building like it in India, made completely of white marble carved with great delicacy, inlaid with semi-precious stones and painted with exquisite motifs.

The inlaid marble, known by craft as "pietra dura", used mostly geometric designs, and relied heavily on black onyx and golden jasper. Painted motifs are more botanical, with the flowers of paradise cropping up (rose, tulip, lily, narcissus, poppy.)

The Itimad-ud-Daulah was also the first tomb to be built along the banks of the Yamuna River, a river perhaps only second in importance to India as the Ganges, and almost as polluted right now as well. The marble structure is surrounded by red sandstone walls, gates, porticos and buildings on either side, one as a mosque and one only to provide symmetry.

Built in a series of gardens following a Persian geometric pattern, the tomb is fairy-like and delicate, the marble like woven icing. Symmetrical like the Taj Mahal, it holds other tombs as well, likely for family members but they are not identified.

The entire place is lovely and quiet, with only a few others strolling around, spending time in the gardens of paradise.

Next stop - Agra

Off to Agra, a 4 hours car journey away. On the way we saw many small kilns for making bricks, and fields of potatoes and mustard. The smog of Delhi (which was particularly bad today) slowly receded after about an hour and a half and the Jayvee expressway took us past three tolls before we arrived in the small city of Agra, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. I say small,but there are about 2.5 million people living here, in buildings of only 2-3 storeys, so you can imagine how crammed the citizens are.

There are still slums, with canvas stretched between trees or down in a triangle shape like a camping tent. Small fires burn with coal or sticks of wood. Everyone is barefoot and the smell is pretty bad, as a toilet is wherever you decide it is. There may be a communal well.

The next level up looks like space in an empty building, perhaps an unfinished brick or cement structure, which looks like the shell was constructed before the builder walked away. Several families might live there, with walls created by hanging sheets. Everyone spends the day on the rooftop, where laundry can be stretched out and watched dry.

There are also rooms in back of shops, or up stairs from the street into a dark cement space with no door. Down narrow lanes full of garbage and rubble, sitting in front of entrances from which emanate smoke from cooking fires within. Everyone is outside, to be in the open air and community. Clusters of people stand or move in between the traffic as it flows around in a honking stream. Small carts or stalls sell whatever they can, many cooking their wares from the stall itself. Other sell nuts or dried fruits that come from other states along the side of the road. Bikes and motorbikes, for sale or rent. Small ricketty handmade wooden stools or pink toys still wrapped in plastic. Lots of plastic. Everyone works hard to scrap out a living in whatever way they can, and we are always approached by beggars, or those trying to sell cheap fridge magnets or other souvenirs.

Despite this people look as clean and well dressed as possible, in perhaps their only clothing. We get smiles despite refusing to engage financially with touts. Hair is clean by way of hoses on the street, where males wash themselves down with soap in their shorts, or from pails of water pumped by hand. Dogs are everywhere, but many are on leads, pets. Children are loved, and everyone looks beautiful, with skin colours of coffee to black, glossy hair and eyes, and prominent cheekbones. Especially the young men and women - they are all absolutely stunning.

Despite being warned not to walk around on our own, we do, knowing how to hide anything that could be pickpocketed. Dust and horns, but also childish games and laughter. It could be 200 years ago.

Three Things....

Our Delhi guide told us there are three things that all Indians are devoted to:

Politics

Cricket

Bollywood 

Try as I might, I cannot think of 3 things that all Canadians or British or Americans are devoted to that form such a wonderful trilogy of intellectual, physical and artistic connection.

Feel free to have a go - I welcome your suggestions!

Martin's Horoscopes in India

I haven’t read a horoscope in years as they are so dull. In India, where everything is always colourful, they are the opposite. Here’s a smattering for a few signs of what to expect this week according to the Hindustan Times:

Leo: Spending quality time with a lover will prove most fulfilling. Lucky colour: Pink.

Sagittarius: Brightening romantic scene can keep you in an excited state. Lucky colour: Off White.

Taurus: You will be in a position to demand a big pay packet and boost your financial strength. A party organized at home will prove a thumping success. Health poses no problems but don’t take liberties. Don’t volunteer for anything at work. You will be in a position to cater for the specific needs of a family elder. Good company is likely to keep you entertained on a long journey. A booked property may become ready for possession soon. Keep romance on the back burner today to focus on other things. Lucky colour: Maroon

Virgo: You will manage to upstage your rival in your effort to corner glory at work. Lucky colour: Orange

Gemini: Financial problems are set to disappear. Problems are foreseen for those travelling by road. Lucky colour: Chocolate.

Libra: Seniors may repose full faith in you for understanding something challenging at work. Lucky colour: Mustard.

Cancer: There is a strong possibility of undertaking an out of town journey. Someone is likely to get smitten by you but it may just be a passing infatuation so don’t read too much into it. Lucky colour: Silver.

Mohan to Mahatma

Gandhi was a pithy bloke.

During his rise from ambitious law student in England, principled barrister in South Africa, and political tiger in India, Gandhi became known for his principles, his philosophies and what he identified as a new form of 7 deadly sins. His unwavering morals and fearlessness in speaking out against hypocrisies, even among his most devoted followers, must have made him a difficult man to be with, but a beacon for his people as India demanded self-rule from Great Britain and achieved it in 1947.

We spent the morning at the house he spent his last 144 days at, and where he was assassinated almost exactly 72 years ago today, on January 30, 1948, arising from political and social issues related to independence.

the house in which his room was located,
and the site marked where he was killed by a gunman

his path marked with clay footprints

my wet footprints after walking on the wet grass

mural inside his prayer hut

with Nehru, India's first Prime Minister

I am sure this means something,
but it looks to me like a tree has dropped over for a spot of tea and conversation

young Mohandas

old Mahatma

outside the museum, on the site

The moniker Mahatma, which means "a great soul" in Hindi was bestowed on him in 1915 by poet and Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore,but his real name at birth was Mohandas, called Mohan for short. Another name, or version of his name, was Gandhiji, as the suffix "ji" is used as a sign of respect in India.

There is an excellent small museum on site, where you can see his room and those few possessions he owned (his eyeglasses, pocket watch, cutlery and walking stick), but also a wonderful series of fusions between art, technology, education and performance theatre, without the theatre. One of our favourite pieces was a large than life sizeharp. If you plucked one string - any string - it sparked a video on teh side wall with children singing Gandhi's favourite song. And if you looked closely at the harp, you could see Gandhi's shadow. 

He definitely walked the walk, in his simple lifestyle, his adherence to change through nonviolence, and belief that religions should not dictate politics, avowing that:

“Religion is one tree with many branches. As branches, you may say, religions are many, but as a tree, religion is only one.”

He had many admirers, from politics and religions of course, but also from science, despite the fact that science was never a subject about which he gave much consideration. However, identifying the truth in any and all forms was something he did advocate, which is what all good scientists try to do.

It was that belief, not shared by all, that resulted in his assassination at the age of 79, walking in the garden to his prayer meeting on a calm winter's evening. He fought for one self-determining country, and was saddened with the partition of British India into the Union of India and the Dominion of Pakistan, following political demarcations along of religious lines. This split meant land was cut up into pieces with Pakistan and what later became Bangladesh separated by India, and the provinces of Punjab and Bengal divided as well. The region of Kashmir is still disputed between India and Pakistan. 

These new borders meant mass exoduses of refugees across the continent- Muslims in one direction and Hindus in the other, resulting in hundreds of thousands, some estimate millions, killed. Even more displaced. All this Gandhi foresaw and argued against, and indirectly caused his death at the hands of a Hindu nationalist. 

It is a calm spot now, the path Gandhi took from his room to the prayer meeting place and ultimate death marked by clay footprints. Reading the panels nearby, I was impressed even more by his sayings and philosophies, many now famous. And he was pithy, able to convey a lot in only a few words. Some of these:

In a gentle way, you can shake the world

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

The future depends on what we do in the present.

An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.

God has no religion.

His 7 deadly sins:

Politics without principles

Wealth without work

Pleasure without conscience

Knowledge without character

Commerce without morality

Science without humanity

Worship without sacrifice

But the one that resonates most with me, and that I try to follow all my life it:

Live as if you were to die tomorrow

Learn as it you were to live forever