Sue’s reflections on Agra (a Jaipur intermission)

Some more Sue reflections.  Sorry, am a few days behind, but wanted to add some thoughts about our journey so far. Without doubt, the most memorable experience was in Varanasi, but the Taj Mahal comes a close second.  Only the third building in my life to have made me cry, and the only one from the outside (the others are St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona).  As Norm described, it took us by surprise as we rounded a corner in the gardens on the opposite side of the river.  And I was genuinely speechless.  The fog that has plagued our mornings had lifted slightly, and in the lingering mist it looked almost ethereal.  Knowing the inspiration for the monument makes it even more memorable.  It was built by Shah Jahan as a memorial for his wife, who died in childbirth at the age of 39, having delivered their fourteenth child, a girl, who survived.  I wondered if the memorial also represented Shah Jahan’s grief at the loss of eight of his fourteen children, most of whom died in the first six months of life due to ‘weakness’.  A famous poet once described the Taj Mahal as a ‘teardrop on the cheek of eternity’ and it is widely considered the most beautiful building in the world.  Inside, the whole structure is encrusted with semi-precious stones – we were able to observe this process later at a marble shop and it is incredibly painstaking.  Photos are not allowed inside the Taj, but here is a picture of the piece we bought. 

 

 

India is not always a comfortable place to be.  The piles of rubbish everywhere, persistent hawkers and heart-breaking beggars tapping on the car windows regularly cause me to wonder what we are doing here on holiday, when we could have given the money to a charity offering practical support to these people.  However, tourism is one of the three main industries in this region, and has struggled to recover from the pandemic, particularly for international travellers.  Certainly our hosts keep reminding us of how glad they are that we are here, but it’s a dilemma. 

 

On a practical note, we have been plagued by a series of challenges and mishaps in the last few days (terrifying drive from Agra to Jaipuir in dense fog, suitcase left behind, a lost wallet, lost medication bag, Norm has a chest infection etc.), that have prevented us from writing the blog as regularly as we would have liked.  Apologies.  We will probably post once from each location from now on – we have seven more to go.  Thanks for reading.