I met a French Canadian on the bus named Rachel who works for an NGO (non-government association, usually social services) in Delhi. Her plan was to catch a train to Varanasi instead of coming back with the bus and I decided to tag along. We split off from the main group and took some pretty killer pictures at the Taj Mahal.
Everybody from Agra is pretty excited because some newspaper ranked the Taj Mahal as the number one wonder of the world. They were all quick to brag and tell fanciful stories about it. One legend tells that the Taj Mahal was built by a mogul king whose main wife died and who wanted her tomb be as spectacular as their love. He thought the architect needed to know his sorrow to build it properly though so he had the man's wife beheaded.
Speaking of violence, I think there may be concern about Hindu fanatical terrorism. Security was pretty tight and they made Rachel leave her backpack in a locker outside. There haven't been any attempts as far as know but the place is a mosque and people actually worship here. Some playing cards in my bag were even confiscated because (I'm assuming this is why) they're used for gambling.
5 comments:
The detail in the structure is beautiful. I had never seen any pics from that close. I hope you got some more photos of the building.
Yes, I got plenty. Some of them have some pretty good shadows too.
i'm not so sure it would be fanatical hindu terrorists, though i know they exist. wouldn't it be morelikely to come from muslim terrorists? check out this piece:
http://www.exile.ru/2006-April-07/gandhi_porn.html
oh, and if that last link I put up didn't scare you, this AP wire story from last summer will:
willhttp://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/08/18/letter-threatens-to-blow-up-taj-mahal/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.breitbart.com%2Fnews%2F2006%2F08%2F18%2FD8JITSEO0.html&frame=true
The first article is interesting but Muslim extremists wouldn't attack it because it is a mosque. Also, I believe it's misrepresenting the train fires in 2002. I think most government investigations concluded the train derailed on its own. The second link isn't working for me.
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