Vivek’s Blog

Traffic jams, wrong directions, odd food hours, a cloudy day, and a runaway guide notwithstanding, how long could the Taj elude us? We could’ve seen it back in January but things didn’t materialize. This time, they did. In spite of several hiccups. [Hit the More link at the end for a bonus list of crazy things that happened]

The lowdown on the Taj Mahal is simple. It’s a beautiful structure that’s suffering from shoddy maintenance. And industries on the outskirts of Agra. Most of the shine is gone and instead of being a bright white, the Taj has acquired a brown hue. I was taken aback by the sheer number of visitors even on a Monday afternoon. There were literally thousands of people. Which led me to do some simple math and conclude that almost 2 crore people visit the Taj Mahal every year. The number is probably higher due to surges in the winter.

Anyway, I have posted only a couple of photos of the Taj with this blog entry. You can find more photos in the following two Facebook galleries (you don’t have to be a member to view them):

Visiting the Taj Mahal
More Taj goodness

List of crazy things on this trip:

1. Traffic jam in Delhi at 1:30am
2. More traffic jams in Delhi
3. Ashram in Vrindavan actually like a hotel
4. No breakfast at Ashram, only lunch and dinner at specified hours
5. Another jam, this time at a railway crossing
6. Goverdhan, the hill supposedly lifted by Lord Krishna on his pinky is for reals
7. Mom’s sandals stolen from outside temple (by a monkey)
8. Guide we hired at Taj Mahal disappeared from the gate
9. All-night rain in Agra
10. Mom fell sick with viral fever
11. Driver smacked the car into small truck going ahead