When Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal for his beloved Mumtaz Mahal at the beginning of the 17th century that is what he said he wanted to create for her final resting place.  Yes, the Taj Mahal is a tomb, built for one person (it now holds two – Shah Jahan was laid to rest next to his wife).  It is said to have taken 22 years and 22,000 men to build it, and it nearly bankrupt the empire.

We left the hotel at 6 am to see the Taj at sunrise, and it was truly magical. As the sky lightened and illuminated the morning haze, the building seemed to float as it appeared before us. Words and pictures really cannot capture how spectacular this place is. Constructed entirely of the finest Indian white marble (a type that is very hard, doesn’t stain, and is very expensive), it is also inlaid with semi-precious stones in such fine, precise workmanship, you just can’t believe it.  You think it’s painted, but it’s not. The inlay covers the entire interior, as well as makes up the Farsi script that encircles the entryway.

Architecturally, the Mughals were amazing. Not only is everything perfectly symmetrical, the parapets are designed with one side slightly angled so that the laws of perspective are defied and they appear from any distance to point straight up to the heavens. This also helped seismically – if a parapet fell from an earthquake, it would fall away from the building.  Being a Muslim tomb, there is also a mosque on one side, with an identical building opposite so as to maintain the symmetry of the overall grounds.

We wandered around the complex as the sky became day, almost speechless and in awe at the beauty of the whole thing. It is truly a wonder of the world to be treasured forever, as it has been for almost 400 years.  Someone once said that the only way to feel that one is not in a dream at the Taj Mahal is to close one’s eyes….

On the drive to Agra (that’s where the Taj is) we got to see a really fun and awesome display of “the colors of India” when we came across a Ganeshi Chaturthi – we called it Ganesha Pride – which is a celebration of the elephant-headed god. Groups of people spend months building and decorating statues of Ganesha in the most amazing designs and creativity and then they drive them to the river in the backs of trucks or pulled by tractors on carts with music blasting and dance around throwing brightly colored powder all over each other (green, pink, purple, orange) and then they carry Ganesha to the river and toss him in!  And this whole thing happens over and over again.  Super fun and energetic and colorful like you wouldn’t believe. What a treat that was to discover!