Looking at the Taj Mahal

Looking at the Taj Mahal

First impression about the Taj Mahal

I was waiting in a long queue with numerous other tourists, waiting eagerly to enter into the Tajmahal. It was early in the winter morning. Security checking was delaying the process. One by one the visitors were passing the gate. This was the first time I was paying a visit to Tajmahal, the wonderful monument erected by the mughal emperor Shahjahan. There was a young girl standing just behind me in the queue. She was probably from Eastern part of India. Probably form Assam or Monipur. Her father was standing right behind her.

At last when I crossed the barrier, I stood on the high platform, exactly opposite to the Tajmahal. I had a strange feeling. At the first sight, the Tajmahal appeared to me as a holy mosque. The sun was shining on the monument. It looked so peaceful and serene in the misty surroundings. It was early in the morning and visitors were still scarce enough not to pollute the empty verandahs of Tajmahal. I was thoughtful than excited. This was a serious lacking; I never got excited visiting any famous place. I went to many places to see the achievements of human civilization but never got happy. Tajmahal appeared to me as a mosque. But it was a graveyard not a mosque. Of course there were not much difference between a place of worship and a monument. A mosque and a graveyard were very closely associated. The place of worship was associated with present of human life and the past of human life was associated with graveyard.

Poet William Blake once said1 the gardens of Churches slowly but surely uprooted and transformed into graveyards. After some time people paid less and less visit to the gardens of Churches and the place became haunted. Place of worship turned into place of death. After all, these places of worship dealt mostly with the life after death. So it really did not matter if Tajmahal was a mosque or a monument. Though it could easily had been a mosque. It became famous as a monument, thus survived and would survive political changes and religious conflicts.

The people who visited Tajmahal showed wonderful expressions of enjoyment and surprise, particularly the elderly people from Europe. They sat on the platform opposite the Tajmahal and looked at it for quite a long time before started to walk towards the monument. It could also be that they felt tired after a long journey. Young boys and girls from Western world spared no time but walked straight to the Tajmahal and took photographs as many as possible. They really enjoy funny poses. Tourists from Japan turned their lips and made faces looking at the Tajmahal as if to say they could build such building at any time and any place. Indian visitors were busy as usual taking care of their children, luggage, foods and shouting and screaming while taking group photographs.

Everything seemed all right, except my feeling. It seemed that I do not possess a fountain of joy in side my heart. S.T. Coleridge once said2 in his poem that our feelings about outward things depended upon the joy in our heart. So if one’s inner self were not filled with joy then mere observation would not make him feel happy.

The girl who was in the queue right after me, just screamed with joy, when she got her first glimpse at the Tajmahal. She was trembling with joy. She grabbed her father’s arms and was saying how beautiful the Tajmahal was. Her father nodded his head with a smile. He was expressionless but he could understand his daughter’s feeling, which might just reminded him about his feelings when he first saw the Tajmahal at his youth. Tajmahal might be very meaningful to the young girl. She really enjoyed and felt happy about watching the monument for the first time. Most importantly she could express her feelings. If someone cannot enjoy in looking at the Tajmahal then he might just stay at home as it was really not so meaningful for him to visit the Tajmahal.

Everybody should be gifted with the feelings of wonder and amusement. These feelings really make life enjoyable. All the tourists should not try to apply logic while visiting places of human heritages rather they should apply the heart to appreciate such creations.

1. I went to the Garden of Love And saw what I never had seen- A chapel was built in the midst, Where I used to play in the green. . .................................................. ..................................................... And I saw it was filled graves, And tomb-stones where flowers should be: And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds, And binding with barriers my joys and desires.

“The Garden of Love”, by William Blake.

2. It were a vain endeavour, Though I should gaze forever On that green light that lingers in the west: I may not hope from outward forms to win The passion and the life, whose fountains are within

“Dejection: An Ode”, by S.T. Coleridge, lines 42-46).