The Taj Mahal. We finally made it. And despite my weariness and exhaustion from over a month of travelling, I have to admit I felt a little bit of excitement upon seeing it for the first time, from a rooftop in Agra. Like the starched white sheets at the Mahalaxhmi Dhobi Ghat in Mumbai, I remember being impressed at how white the Taj is, blending in with the white clouds in the background, and admiring how it rises up out of the mish-mash of houses and winding streets, so unassumingly.
But for me the Taj Mahal, as a tourist attraction, is flawed. Take a minute to Google image 'Taj Mahal bench', or words to that effect, and scroll through the results. What you will see, is exactly what every tourist observes when they visit this iconic building, a queue of individuals, couples and families, waiting patiently to have their photo taken on this famous bench. In the perfect position for a good photo. And I found myself asking, is this why I've come to the Taj Mahal? To take a photo so that I can say, "Look, I was actually there"? Unfortunately, yes. I hate to write negatively and disappoint you all, but there is no point in lying. I was not wowed by the Taj. I felt no desire to linger and soak up the atmosphere. And I did not feel like it was a true symbol of India. Having donned my tourist shoe covers (because the hot marble is too much for white tourist feet to bear), I found myself laughing, as I paused to watch the queue by the photo bench increasing as the sun rose in the sky.
But looking back, I know that the Taj Mahal is more than a tourist attraction. You have to look past the hordes of people and hundreds of cameras. The Taj Mahal was not built for tourists. It was built to remember a beloved wife. And because of that, on May 28th I was wrong. The Taj really is the perfect symbol for India. Extravagant. Extreme. Over the top. It stands in stark contrast to the intense heat, fragrant smells and array of colours of India, but that is what makes it so powerful. And as I look back on all my photos, and scroll through Google images, I realise that the bench, the famous photo bench, is what it's all about. Indian families dressed in their finest, most brightly coloured sarees, posing in the typical Indian way for a single photo, which they will cherish for ever. That is India.
But for me the Taj Mahal, as a tourist attraction, is flawed. Take a minute to Google image 'Taj Mahal bench', or words to that effect, and scroll through the results. What you will see, is exactly what every tourist observes when they visit this iconic building, a queue of individuals, couples and families, waiting patiently to have their photo taken on this famous bench. In the perfect position for a good photo. And I found myself asking, is this why I've come to the Taj Mahal? To take a photo so that I can say, "Look, I was actually there"? Unfortunately, yes. I hate to write negatively and disappoint you all, but there is no point in lying. I was not wowed by the Taj. I felt no desire to linger and soak up the atmosphere. And I did not feel like it was a true symbol of India. Having donned my tourist shoe covers (because the hot marble is too much for white tourist feet to bear), I found myself laughing, as I paused to watch the queue by the photo bench increasing as the sun rose in the sky.
But looking back, I know that the Taj Mahal is more than a tourist attraction. You have to look past the hordes of people and hundreds of cameras. The Taj Mahal was not built for tourists. It was built to remember a beloved wife. And because of that, on May 28th I was wrong. The Taj really is the perfect symbol for India. Extravagant. Extreme. Over the top. It stands in stark contrast to the intense heat, fragrant smells and array of colours of India, but that is what makes it so powerful. And as I look back on all my photos, and scroll through Google images, I realise that the bench, the famous photo bench, is what it's all about. Indian families dressed in their finest, most brightly coloured sarees, posing in the typical Indian way for a single photo, which they will cherish for ever. That is India.
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