"I have to park the car here, some kilometers away because of the threat of pollution - you'll have to take an auto rickshaw to the site" said Satish Kumar, our driver. We had left Delhi early that morning and the drive to Agra had taken four and a half hours with a couple of stops on the way involving breakfast and snake charmers.
The rickshaw ride took us to the ticket office. The 750 rupee entrance ticket for the Taj for foreigners, provided a small bottle of water and socks to put over your shoes. The security was tight, we were carefully checked and then joined the huge crowd heading towards the entrance to the Taj precinct. The heat was intense.
It's interesting confronting something which you have seen a million times in photographs, on tea towels, or advertising something banal. You glance momentarily, bored with the image and look away. Now, here was the original..... It has a presence, an unmistakable personality, like the smile of Mona Lisa, you are not quite sure of her. She is weightless, ethereal, not quite of this world. Complete in herself, down to every detail, perfect, ageless, nothing can be added or taken away, harmonious - like a painting of the Madonna and Child by Raphael, there is serenity and timelessness, changeable in different light and yet unchanging.
The rickshaw ride took us to the ticket office. The 750 rupee entrance ticket for the Taj for foreigners, provided a small bottle of water and socks to put over your shoes. The security was tight, we were carefully checked and then joined the huge crowd heading towards the entrance to the Taj precinct. The heat was intense.
It's interesting confronting something which you have seen a million times in photographs, on tea towels, or advertising something banal. You glance momentarily, bored with the image and look away. Now, here was the original..... It has a presence, an unmistakable personality, like the smile of Mona Lisa, you are not quite sure of her. She is weightless, ethereal, not quite of this world. Complete in herself, down to every detail, perfect, ageless, nothing can be added or taken away, harmonious - like a painting of the Madonna and Child by Raphael, there is serenity and timelessness, changeable in different light and yet unchanging.
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