Taj in moonlight. AI's interpretation.
It is quite mysterious how Taj Mahal came to be the most known symbol of India. India is hard to define, harder to describe and hardest to brand! On top of everything, asking for one single image to encapsulate it all.....somebody; most likely an alcoholic British colonial halfwit chose Taj Mahal and it has stuck.
Of all the amazing masterpieces of architecture India has; they had to pick this! Why had they not heard about the largest monolithic structure in the world; the kailasa temple? A 107' high building site, two times the size of Parthenon at Athens; carved out of a single rock?
Part of the taj story is the romanticism associated with the building. A king apparantly got it constructed to bury his fourth wife Mumtaj ......oh; was it the third. Ok, 3rd then! There is no knowing how many wives, concubines, keeps and other subjugated women passed thru the royal chambers! Islamic love is hard to keep count of !
Shahjehan, according to popular belief killed Mumtaj's husband to marry her. The evidence is a bit weak on that but it is historically proven that Mumtaj bore 14 children in the 19 years they were together and she died in childbirth! None of this 'permanently pregnant' status sounds like love to me!
I visited Agra first time on a grade 2 school trip. I do not remember much except the bus ride and the fact that a teacher scolded me for something which I do not recollect. There is no picture. I wanted to have my picture taken, since so many other people were getting clicked by the commercial photographers. I do not think we had a camera along. We were so little and it was more than half a century ago. It is pretty hazy! It was a day trip, we returned late evening and my mother collected me from school.
A couple of years later my maternal uncle tagged me along on a trip to Agra. This time we stayed overnight with the friend of my uncle. They were both completing their M.D. at Delhi. We did not see the taj at night. This friend had a Rolliflex film camera and I asked for my picture to be taken. I posed , they clicked. It was a pretend click just to humour a child. No individual picture ever got produced. You should never deceive a child! Being honest is not hurtful, it shows that you trust them with information. Simplify it, but tell the truth! It is also helpful if you can provide another option while denying one. It is very humilating when you lie! Children know you are lying; as I did! Deception has a negative effect on a child's innocent mind! You are teaching them it's ok to lie! It is not.
One of the most beautiful sight in the world is a laughing child. One of the most satisfying thing in this world is being the reason for that laugh!
There is a B&W group picture from this trip somewhere that features me. It is somewhere but also etched on my heart. A young boy in shorts standing at an angle to the camera. You see they could have easily told me this. " We will get a picture of everyone together", There, see how easy saying the truth was! I would have been happy and would never have remembered this bad lifelong experince! I do have a clearer idea of this trip. I remember sitting on a stone bench and eating. I was still too young to understand that this place was the lover's ' Mecca'!
As an adult I did see it in moonlight; eventually. A friend accompanied me on this occasion. We boarded a slow train and travelled on the upper berth from nizamuddin railway station to Agra. I liked this trip better because of the company. Although there were a few anxious moments and some disagreements. Not sure why! Anyway I saw it in moonlight and God knows I did not feel any romance in the cold building at all. Once you know the history of things , it is not possible to unknow it! It will colour all of your experiences going forward. Especially if that history was not exactly kosher!
Agha Khan award for excellence in architecture is prestigious and is held every three years. I designed the built part (there was a performance part too) one year it was held at Agra. There were a few different sites for different elements like seminars/workshops and winning design showcase exhibition ; in addition to the main award ceremony site; which was an open ground at a hotel called Taj Khema. You can see Taj from its grounds. We used that view as a background for 'no design high creative appeal' effect. Incorporating the free view into overall design / planning did go rather well with the client's brief. It actually sold our project design.
I have to admit that Taj looks shimmering in moonlight from a distance.
I did travel a few times to Agra before that event for client meetings; site measurements; design presentations, contractor selections etc. however I never set foot inside the Taj premises. Even during the build process at various venues I just did not bother to visit. There was no time either and nothing was scheduled at the monument premises anyway. You might have guessed by now that I am probably the only person on this earth that is not a fan of Taj.
Last time I visited though was so very different from my previous subpar experiences. My daughter was set to go to university and her complaint was that she has no experience of 'India'! "People think I am Indian. They ask me and I am blank. I have not even been to Taj Mahal", is how she put it. So we promised to show her a bit of India before she heads out to the uni. This time I went like a 'not Indian", which I certainly am not. I am not a not Indian. We booked an agra package. A vehicle would pick us from our home in Delhi. We got a guide and we bought queue free express entry in Dollars. Guide tells you a lot of rehearsed non sense but it kind of makes the commentary nuanced. This was the best Taj trip for me because my children enjoyed it. I skipped the gory history as did the guide.
Remember what I said about bringing a smile to children! The experience was made greater because the travel agent my son had booked online with had also included a lunch in the price. Something we did not realise till our vehicle stopped at the restaurant. It was one of the best meals I have ever had and trust me I used to work for Hyatt and for two and half years I only ate five star lunches everyday; and dinners too; quite so often! I know what good food tastes like!
That travel agent had done a good job with our booking. I met the guy at his inlay souvenir factory. He was old money with several pies in the oven. This travel thing was one of his sons extra curricular activity. Old money are class- mostly; nouveau riche are crass -mostly !
No, I still do not see Taj as even remotely romantic. Firstly it is mislabelled. Taj Mahal means Taj Palace! It is an effing graveyard! Palace, are you serious! How on earth do you build a palace on the foundations of dead bodies? You can only erect a grave stone on the buried. It is a big white Grave Stone with inlay work! Who in their right mind would wander off to romance in a cemetery? Really who? Love and romance is associated with warmth, colour and exuberant joy! Not with a cold, white, barren marble tomb;
made to mourn the loss of a beloved ! I do not blame the builders though! They designed it for the mourning king and to that extent it is doing its job. Their intention for it was never to be a palace, much less a mecca of romance . It is a mausoleum. Would you ever use a mortuary building as a marriage hall ?
Remember this in life too! You can not laugh by making others cry! You will never get peace by robbing others of theirs. A deceiver will get deceived in time! Karma is real. It may take a long time and it maybe one lone man pointing at the king that has no robes on; but some day, someone like me will come along and say it out loud!
'' The palace you made is your grave"! It is a grave! It is! It is!
