After my first romantic tryst with the Taj, we ventured to the timeless monument in the morning - albeit a bit late at 8AM.

The gates for the Taj are thrown open for visitors at 550AM everyday and by 730AM the place is flooded with tourists from all over the world. Entry is through the East Gate with a lot of security scrutiny - the guards were wearing masks for the swine flu.

Electric vehicles, rickshaws and horse-carts ply people from the main parking lot to the East Gate. This was the trusty electric auto that took us around!

The ticket counter that opens at 530AM!

The East Gate

Security

A trip to the Taj is not complete without getting haggled by the sellers and the kids who leave no stone unturned to ensure you pick SOMETHING atleast! One of the kids sold us his “Rs.100 Taj Mahal Projector” for all of Rs.10, while another guy spoke in english and made a great impression on Namrata with his grammar and articulation. So we ended up buying 1100 rupees worth of Taj artifacts from his shop. :| Johnny was his name but all I remember is Namrata going “look Joe, soooo cute!” :D

That’s Johnny to the right

Anyway.

The magic of the Taj still remained in our morning visit but the soaring UP temperature quickly drained our energy. The walk to the Taj takes you through avenues with lush green lawns occupied by stark white cranes. Steps from both sides lead you to the elevated platform on which the Taj is built, going up these steps lets you catch a beautiful sight of the minarets peeking out through the top.

The green and white and the eternal white

Namrata catches a glimpse of the minarets

The marble floors are a lot more crowded in the mornings

...but the details are clearer in the mornings too.

As we reached the mausoleum and looked at the Yamuna flowing peacefully inhabitated only by a few cranes - the natural kind. We contemplated getting the car to the roads running along the Yamuna but learnt that the road’s blocked for visitor entry now. My planned emulation of Raghu Rai’s photography of the Yamuna river, the people who live their lives there and the beauty of the Taj in the backdrop, was out of the window now. (Radhika, Bharath - I envy you guys! Great backdrops and even better stories from the lesser known side of the Taj!)

The birds in and over the Yamuna…

Apart from the “wildlife”, there was enough entertainment on this side of the shores as well.
Everyone tries to grab a funny pose with the Taj, while some just dress funny for the occasion…

..while some others look for it in the wrong places!

Some take rest in uncommon places…

...and some others get no rest, whether at 7AM or at 7PM.

Of course, our friends from Bond shoes have prohibited vehicle entry into the Taj…

...but we did not forget our third team-mate.

That three-pointed diamond star is what brought us here and the photo above pretty much sums up my experience with the Taj over two visits. It’ll always be a blurry wistful memory of the place, the excitement of the people who are seeing it for the first time, the looks of the photographers seeing it for the nth time but still wanting to go back with a new perspective, the nonchalance of the people who see it everyday, the persuasive skills of the sellers, the eerie cleanliness of the whole area, the great company of a patient friend who’d sit through all the photographic madness, and the car that got us there.

Over 2800kms in one car that again and again manages to silently slip into the background and let us enjoy ourselves. If we haven’t spoken much about the Cedia till now, it is only because it manages to take us to destinations without uttering a single murmur along the way, it lets us have conversation and make stories without adding any drama whatsoever, and it always ensures we’re left with enough energy to tell those stories to you at the end of the day.

Still in love. With the Taj. And with that magical diamond star.