Day 13: Mathura to Allahabad

“TAJ MAHAL” DAY

We got up in the city of birth place of Lord Krishna and moved out by 8:30 a.m. The breakfast was poori-aaloo and bread-butter. The target was to reach Allahabad after stopping at Agra to see Taj Mahal. The distance to be covered was 534 kms.

The road (NH 2) to Taj Mahal was good, except for the morning rush hours in Agra city. We reached Taj Mahal by 10:30 a.m. We took time to reach Agra as we had missed one crossing and had to take a long route. GPS was very useful and we reached Taj Mahal very easily. GPS is like our ‘Phone a friend’ and ‘a Friend in need’.

We took a battery-operated tempo to reach west gate of Taj Mahal from Car Park which was about 800 metres away. Only battery operated vehicles or cycle rickshaw or camel carts or tongas were allowed to reach Taj Mahal, as these are pollution free. There were many guides who surrounded us at the Car Park place, but we avoided them and took battery operated vehicle. The driver of the vehicle advised us to avoid the guides and then started telling us that he was on salary by the Govt. and the amount that he gets from visitors goes to govt. He wanted us to visit a museum where shawls (special type – which could go through a ring) and said that Taj Mahal would be opening only at 10:35 a.m. as it is closed from 9:45 to 10:35 a.m. He was forcing us to buy from museum so that he may get his commission from them. We proceeded to the main gate of Taj which was open. Actually the timings for Taj Mahal is 6:30 am to 6:30 pm. On Fridays it is closed.

Anupam saw the number of batteries in the vehicle and how they are fixed etc. This was the area in which he has lots of interest. His Engineer mind was at work. When we were entering Taj Mahal, Anupam was told not to carry camera tripod stand and torches. So, he had to go back and deposit camera stand and torches in locker. We took a guide. It is always good to avoid the guides etc. flocking around when you reach such a place of interest, and to reach near the main gate to get proper guide at proper rate.

The experience at Taj, the narration by guide and the feeling that we were at Taj Mahal, the symbol of love, gave very great feeling.

Shahjahan built Taj Mahal in fond memory of his beloved wife Mumtaj Mahal. She had died in Burhanpur, now in Maharashtra. Her tomb is still there in Burhanpur known as ‘Biwi ka maqbara’. . Taj Mahal was built by about 20,000 workers. The construction started in 1633. It took 22 years to complete the construction. The cost was Rs. 4 crores at that time. There are 11 domes on the main gate in the front and 11 domes at the back side of the dome, denoting 22 years of construction. The chief architect was Mohd. Iliyas from Persia and there was one more architect Mohd. Ismail from Jaipur. The designs for flowers, mural etc. were taken from onion, star, Kohinoor diamond cuttings, candle, Honey comb (chhatta). The stones for decoration came from Persia, Yemen, Arabia, Makrana and Bundelkhand. The stones were taken up by making ramp and camels were used to carry stones. The four sides of the Taj Mahal are symmetrical. If you look from any side Taj Mahal will look same. There are four Minars on the four sides of Taj Mahal building. The minars are not in the same line and front ones are little wider than the minars on the rear side. Incase of any earthquake or any other calamity, the minars would fall on outer side and not on the main building. There are stairs inside the minars. The whole Taj Mahal is made of ‘Sangamarmar’ i.e. white marble. Despite 355 years of its existence, the marbles have not diminished in their colour and looks. The guide told us that after the Mathura Refinery started, the Taj Mahal has started becoming little yellowish.

The carvings, flowers and ‘Jaalis’ are all made of one stone. The stones were cut by the workers and that was lot of artistic work. That is why it took almost 22 years to complete the construction .The flowers were made so artistically that you could see each vein in the leaf. Semi-precious stones brought from 16 different countries were inlaid in to the marble. Semi-precious stones of red, green, blue orange colour stones are used. These are the stones the king used to give to Mumtaz mahal, so he got the same fixed in Taj Mahal. Single vein in the flower would also be visible. The artistry is so good. It took about 20 days to make one flower. They have to be polished also.

When the light falls on the semi-precious stones, they glow from inside. With the help of torch the guide showed the effect of light. The effect looked very good. It would be nice idea to visit Taj Mahal on ‘full moon day’ so that one can see these stones and flowers glowing under full moon.

The marbles are all pasted not with the help of cement, but with the help of paste made with Moong dal, Arhar dal and lime. This adhesive has stood the test of time.

The main gate of the Taj Mahal has first ‘aayat’ from Quran, which was followed by second ‘aayat’ on the back side and continued on to the Taj building. The ‘aayaten’ were written in such a way that they could be read as they appear of the same font. Actually, while writing ‘aayaten’ they were written in smaller font at the bottom and as they went up the font size increased gradually. That is a very good calligraphy.

There are many strategic points once you enter the gate to take good photos of Taj Mahal. We took lots of photos. It was quite hot by the time we reached the main Taj Mahal building. However, the White marble gave such a cooling effect that it was easy to walk. On entering the building the guide showed us two tombs. There are two more tombs just below these two tombs, which have the ashes of Shahjahan and Mumtaj Mahal. The ones in the basement are original ones and above them two are made to ensure that people do not walk over the tombs. The tomb of Mumtaj was placed exactly in the centre of building. The tomb of Shahjahan was later placed on left side after Shahjahan died. The guide showed us many stones with the light from torch. They were glowing in torch light. He said that on Full moon day, the outer walls of Taj Mahal would shine because all the stones on Taj Mahal would shine and that is something to cherish life long.

The main gate of the Taj Mahal, main entrance of the building and the Tomb of Mumtaz Mahal are on in one line. These all have been made in such a symmetry that one could see outside from near the tomb. Masjid and Guest house are constructed on both sides of the Taj Mahal. Both are having same design. There are two more ‘makbaras’ constructed for two other queens of Shahjahan.

The hands of the main two architects were cut by Shahjahan so that they would not make any other building subsequently.

The guide told us that Shahjahan was arrested by his son Aurangzeb after construction of Taj Mahal. Actually Shahjahan started construction of a black building just opposite the main building across Yamuna river. Aurangzeb thought that if his father continues with his passion of making such buildings, they would be pauper, so he arrested his father and kept him in Agra Fort in a room from where he could see Taj mahal. Just before his death, Shahjahan told his son that the workers who built Taj Mahal have damaged their hands due to construction work, so they should be paid handsomely so that they can start some business. Further, he wanted that his dome be placed next to the tomb of his wife Mumtaj Mahal.

On the rear side of the Taj Mahal flows Yamuna river. The river was flowing above danger mark as there was lot of water released inYamuna river from Hathini dam in Haryana. We had our lunch outside Taj Mahal i.e. in Taj Restaurant run by ITDC. The food was good.

From there we left for Allahabad. About 72 kms. before Kanpur, we took NH 2A which took us from Sikandra to a place near Bindki before Fatehpur. This route saved about 40 kms. compared to the normal route by NH2 through Kanpur and then reaching Allahabad. However NH2A was not as good as we were informed. It was good, but at some places the road was in very bad shape. Further at Bhognipur where it meets NH 25 from Jhansi to Kanpur, the road was extremely bad and there was traffic jam with lots and lots of lorries. It took us more than one hour to cross Bhognipur. Once we crossed this junction, the road was O.K. till we reached near Bindki. About 10 kms. before Bindki, the road was so bad that it was nightmare to drive. There is a bridge being constructed and the road is awfully bad.

Just after we left Bhognipur, two policemen stopped us. They enquired about us and where we are going and then demanded entry fees of Rs 520/- (a strange figure). We told them why we should give them. They said that we have not used seat belts. We showed that both the person in front seats had the belts on. Then they wanted us to get down and meet their boss. We were afraid to get down from the vehicle. We paid them Rs. 100/- They did not accept. At that time one truck driver of vehicle coming from opposite direction advised us that we should not give him more than Rs. 5/- to him. We realized that this was hoax. However, after negotiations, we gave them Rs. 300/- to avoid getting into difficult situation and started our onwards journey. This is horrible. They were in police uniform and were having rifles.

We reached Allahabad and the place where we left bypass till Allahabad city (say about 20 kms.), it was unimaginably bad road. At one place we thought our Swift would not be in a position to cross the uneven place. We parked our car on one side and were seeing other vehicles pass by and also getting idea as to how do we proceed? To our good luck, one very heavy truck arrived and he took special care to go through a strip in the uneven place so that it had levelled the road a bit and it became possible for us to pass over. We all thanked the God sent help and the driver of the lorry who had the wisdom to make way for us. God help him.

We reached Allahabad at about 11 p.m. and it took almost one hour to check in Hotel Saket at Civil Lines. We stayed there. We took sandwiches for dinner. The hotel was good.