The Taj Mahal, Little Taj and Agra Fort.
This is surreal! I cannot believe that I am actually here as it has been a dream of mine for so long. It is worth the 5 hour each way drive. One disappointment, however, was that Ella the Elephant , our Room 7 mascot, was refused entry and was housed in a locker for the entire visit. Security is tight. We thought we may not even get her back. Don’t worry, we did!
The Taj Mahal is more beautiful than you can even imagine. There is an air of elegance and true love as you meander in contemplating silence along the mirrored pools to the entrance of this tomb. How romantic is this story. For those of you who do not know it, it goes like this:
The Taj was completed in 1653 by the great Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan iafter the death of his 3rd wife, Queen Mumtaz, whom he loved very much. She bore him 14 children and his first son. He loved her very much. She had a dream that her last baby spoke to her from the womb and this was a sign that she would die soon. She asked her husband the emperor to promise three things. One, that he would not marry again. Two, that he would build a special memorable tomb for her. Third, that he would look after their children. He completed his promise. The result is the Taj Mahal. Taj means crown and Majal means palace. The thinking is that the Taj Mahal is the best of ALL palaces in the world. I certainly agree.
Next we visited Little Taj. Not as palatial as the Taj Mahal but still beautiful. We were told that the people from Agra were trying to get it recognized as a World Heritage Site. That would make three of them in Agra which would be a world record.
Finally we went to Agra Fort which was built by Emperor Akbar between 1565 and 1573, where his grandson, Shah Jahan, was imprisoned by his 3 rd son, Aurangzeb, who had aspirations of becoming emperor. (This was after he had killed his three older brothers to get them out of the way.) Shah Jahan had to look out of the window of his cell each day and see the Taj. He shed rivers of tears for the last 8 years of his life .
You can see that now Ella is a real Indian. Both she and Ally got their official “bindis.” Ella also caused a stir as people were asking to photograph her. I did have a job to get her back from the little girl in the red. I guess the people from the Taj realized she would steal the limelight if she were given entry.
Another 12 + hour day but very rewarding.
We are now returning to Delhi for the night and flying out to historic Veranace tomorrow for 4 days. It is a very holy place and it featured on the movie “Water.” We will finally get to see the River Ganges but I will not be bathing in it! More to come……. Don’t forget to leave me a comment or a question.
