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Published: March 7th 2006
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Solidier standing guard
The Indian government is very concerned about an attack on the Taj Mahal so it is heavily guarded LIVING UP TO THE HYPE
There are few things that actually live up to the hype. I remember seeing the movie Gladiator a few years back and everyone said it was a great movie. I didn’t like it. I think I didn't like it because the hype building it up so greatly left my expectations higher than if I had never heard about the movie at all. When being set up with someone, I would here that their friends were very cute and when I met them, most were…well, not so cute. But when it was just a chance meeting without the build up, my expectations were not as high, and it tended to work out better. One last example is men who name their John Thomas. If they name it something like Excalibur, their partner would expect it to cut through metal and unite England. If a guy named their manhood Ralph, their partner would most likely be pleasantly surprised no matter what size Ralph was. My point is, the Taj Mahal is one of the wonders of the world which is probably the greatest hype to have and like the Great Wall, Angkor Wat, and unlike Excalibur, the
Taj lived up to the hype. It is magnificent.
We arrived at sunrise to meet a large line that was waiting to get in. They search everyone who comes in, but women take a lot longer because they’re searched behind curtains. We’re all finally inside and we see it. It looks like the postcards that you’ve seen, except more brilliant. Birds, as if on cue, take off and fly across the towers and the emerging sunlight. What struck me most about the Taj Mahal was how different it looked every couple of minutes. The dissolving moon made it one color while the rising sun made it another. As the sun crept to it’s final height, the Taj seemed to glow with the ever-changing hues. At night, with the moon out, it apparently turns a deep blue. It was great going into the Taj and looking at the views from the heights of the towers. But the ever-lasting image that I will have is seeing the Taj from a distance and watching the colors change. It’s extremely peaceful.
SOME TAJ MAHAL BACK STORY
The back story is almost as good as the building itself. It is known as
the most beautiful monument built for love. Kipling once wrote that the Taj is the embodiment of all things pure which sums it up pretty well. The Taj was built by Shah Jahan for his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal who died giving birth to their 14th child (Maybe some guys have the right to name themselves Excalibur). Yes, Shah had a lot of wives and concubines, but apparently the other marriages were merely political. The death of Mumtaz supposedly turned Shah’s hair overnight. Before she died, Mumtaz asked Shah to build a mausoleum for her that was magnificent. Shah started in 1631 and didn’t finish until 1653. 20,000 people worked on the Taj and the cost was 3 million rupees (70 million dollars) and this was over 450 years ago! Shah wanted to be buried there with his wife when he died, but he was imprisoned by his son at the Agra fort and died in that prison, seeing the Taj from his window every single day. Eventually, Shah’s body was brought to the Taj Mahal and was laid next to his wife at long last.
To top it all off, Danielle was here on her birthday. Imagine being
able to say that you were at the Taj Mahal on your 21st birthday, congratulations Danielle.
SPEAKING OF MANHOOD….
I was walking down the street and a group of masculine women asked me for some money. I asked Vikram about this and he told me that they are hijras. Hijras are basically another word for eunchs. Some of them merely dress as women, while others are born hermaphrodite, and others have the operation to make them more…feminine. Most Indians looks down upon the Hijras, but they are actually considered good luck during weddings and births and you would never want to cross one, or they would bring a curse to you. There is one day in the year that actually celebrates the Hijras since they date back to the 12th century and were an important part of the kingdom. Muslim rulers would castrate any men who acted as guards or servants for the women. Now however, their aren’t a lot of jobs for the Hijras except as beggars, strippers, and at Rage in West Hollywood so their numbers are dwindling.
REALITY BITES
To go from the Taj Mahal back to the hotel room in Agra is
disappointing to say the least. Outside of our hotel, they are doing construction on a building, using bamboo scaffolding. Yes, bamboo is hard to break, but would you want to be three stories up counting on bamboo? Me neither. Our hotel room didn’t quite measure up, even though Danielle and I tried to appreciate the hues on the wall from the buzzing light bulbs. No offense to my grandmother, but the room smells like my grandmother’s old apartment. Like mothballs mixed with chicken soup. The thing is, I don’t see any chicken soup or moths. I’m reminded of the old joke;
Person 1: Have you ever smelled moth balls?
Person 2: Yes.
Person 1: How did you get their little legs apart?
RIM SHOT. Okay, I’m here all week and tip the Hijra on your way out.
405
I haven’t said much about the traffic, but insanity is a good word to describe it. No lanes, little auto-rickshas that are basically mopeds with a back-seat that you use as taxis, intermingled with a billion people, cows, goats, dogs, and foreigners walking. Never, I mean never, have a heart attack at rush hour in India
Sunny Taj
Look how the colors change when the sun hits the Taj because the ambulance ain’t gonna get there. I would suggest purchasing your own open-heart surgery kit (and in India, you could probably find one), because you’re on your own. I thought it would be better in Agra, but it’s still insane. I never thought I’d say this, but be thankful for the 405.
LOSS
Kerry, my animal friend, is no more. She will no longer pet any Indian dogs with me because she was forced to go home due to amoebic dysentery which is not a fun thing to have. And especially not a fun thing to have in a third world country, so unfortunately Kerry went back. I will miss her because she was my partner in crime on the trip. We’d just go out walking among the people and buy food and water from the people rather than staying in the safe hotel room. I will carry on her memory and feed the entire nation of hungry dogs in her honor. To top it all off, she went home a day before we went to the Taj Mahal which sucks. I hate amoebic dysentery now and pray my rabies don’t kick in soon. Namaste, Kerry. Namaste.
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