When I was writing my list of things to do in life, I did have a small momentary pause around seeing the Taj Mahal. In truth it looked to be something that you couldn't miss, but there was no way that I was planning to travel to India.
Fast forward some twenty years, and well an all expense paid work trip with few team mates, I be crazy to pass up that opportunity. The work week has been a frantic pace. Not with the usual meetings etc from home, but just the grind of hotel, office, hotel. The strange thing about the office is that the work stations are tiny, there are limited windows, and even if you do pass a window, there is no blue sky, just pollution and haze.
This morning was an early start as we had to be on the road by 4 am. Lucky for us there is a new freeway from Gurgoan to Agra, so only 3 hours instead of 4-5. The fog was terrible, and in some spots we couldn't see anything in front of the car. Which is a problem given that some vehicles don't have lights.
Fast forward some twenty years, and well an all expense paid work trip with few team mates, I be crazy to pass up that opportunity. The work week has been a frantic pace. Not with the usual meetings etc from home, but just the grind of hotel, office, hotel. The strange thing about the office is that the work stations are tiny, there are limited windows, and even if you do pass a window, there is no blue sky, just pollution and haze.
This morning was an early start as we had to be on the road by 4 am. Lucky for us there is a new freeway from Gurgoan to Agra, so only 3 hours instead of 4-5. The fog was terrible, and in some spots we couldn't see anything in front of the car. Which is a problem given that some vehicles don't have lights.
We picked up a guide from the sister hotel to the one we are staying at, and then took the golf cart out to the Taj Mahal, as you are not allowed to drive past a certain point, and the the last couple of hundred metres are on foot. Of course we were lucky with the cart, because we passed a couple of camels along the journey.
The security is in force with scanners and friskers. It was also sad so see that objects like pens had to be banned due to people defacing the monument.
It was truly amazing to see the Taj Mahal in real life. It is impossible to imagine that it was built in an era without machinery. A 2km ramp had to be built for the elephants to carry the marble up to construct the roof, and it took 22 years to complete construction. It was built in memory of the emperor's wife, who died in child birth after having 14 pregnancies. I guess she will never know the her tomb is a wonder of the world that millions of people come to see.
The smog is bad on any given day, but this morning we also had to cope with fog. So our earlier photos show how bad it was.
Up close and personal was even more amazing. The marble has been inlaid with hand cut precious and semi precious jewels to make all of the flowers and pictures. Speaking of hand cut...really bad pun but the 20 something architects who worked on this building all hand their hands and feet cut off to ensure that could not Erevan build something like this again. Turns out even without hands and feet the men were able to teach their sons the the skills, and so the sons carry on the tradition and teach their sons.
No comments:
Post a Comment