Taj Mahal

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The power is still off at my cottage in West Palm Beach. I'll be in LA a few more days. I'm still working on a donation basis here and it's getting a little expensive, but a lot of people are coming in and benefiting who would ordinarily stay away. It's been a good year.

Anyway, I saw my my next door neighbor, Joey, an LA commedian, at Howleys in West Palm before I left to India and he said the area around the Taj Mahal was a ghetto. He's a huge rotund guy and he said it with half a hamburger in his mouth. But that sounded interesting and I thought I'd check it out.

I forgotten about it by the time I got to the Taj. Our tour was standing in line at dawn to get into the vast marble Mausoleum, our tour of over a hundred women. I'd aleady gone in but stepped outside again to wait and check out the locals.

Then I met a fellow named Mr. Don. He described himself as a tour guide. He was a short guy with thick glasses. He said he could take me to the river to see the Taj before the sun came up, and it would only take two minutes. I could still catch up with my tour. He said he would take me to the place where they filmed Octopussy and James Bond. Sure enough, there was a dirt road alongside the great wall of the Taj that lead to the river. I tagged along, not knowing how much it would cost me. "Donation basis" he said. So that was cool.

There were some kids drawning flowers in chalk on a small mud brick wall opposite the Taj. I felt uncomfortable about taking any pictures. I followed him to the river. There we more children playing there, the YUMUMA river, and a single wooden boat. Mr Don suggested I get on the boat. I wasn't sure. The Oarsman looked a decent fellow and suggested 150 ruppies (or three dollars) I talked him down to a hundred ruppies... but after this ride would gladly pay him his full fee.

He's the fellow pictured above with the oar.

The river current was strong, flowing down toward the GANGES, I didn't know it a small boat to negotiate the current.

Okay...look..our tour was a five star hotel tour...the guides on our tour would caution us not to go into taxis or buy from the local shops, or go with other guides, because we might never come back. This was the one place where they seemed okay with our using other guides.

So we went out into the middle of the river with a third guy, Salim, to this little mud island and waited. There was nothing but fog. I passed out cigarettes. We all smoked. The oarsman was a hindu, Mr Don was a worshipper of Durga(the goddess who rides on a lion and vanquishes demons) and Salim a Muslim.

The Taj is closed on Fridays and used only as a mosque for the Muslims, said Salim. Salim had a pack of postcards of the Taj to sell, but I didn't feel moved to buy any from him.

Still, it's really smart to take cigarettes to any country, other than the US..a great way to make friends. And stepping aside for a cig can make for new adventures with others.


Soon the sun appeared, a spot of orange in the fog, and a few brush strokes of orange on the river, just at the lip of the mud island.

A circle of flowers, magnolias and roses floated by on the surface of teh river. I pointed it out, but the men remained quiet. The YUMUNA river soon joins with the greater GANGES river, India's Holy River, and the charnel ground, mentioned above. We looke toward the Taj. Only thick, impenetrable fog and silence.

Then the oarsman shouted, SHALAH!

I looked, nothing. Then out of the fog, a single minaret appeared. As if from a dream.

It was spectacular. Much more happened (later maybe) One of the first photos of the Taj I took turned out blurry...some on the tour say it was a presence on the boat with us...but we four were there on the boat...presence enough

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Photos

Dawn at the Taj
YUMUNA OARSMAN

Taj at Dawn
From YUMUNA river

The Sun Appears
Dawn on the YUMUNA

Blurry Photo at Taj
Back of a Figure?