Taj Mahal

I don't need to write many words about Taj Mahal cause most of the people already know this place for it's glorious beauty and famous status. Anyway, it was not really my wish to go there cause I don't really like to go to these very commercial places where everybody wants to go and that everyone speaks about.
Similarly, some years ago I went to Berlin and Barcelona, the places that everyone speaks about and everybody wants to visit, and also I didn't feel any real thrill there. I was even a bit disappointed.
Taj Mahal surely didn't disappoint me cause I love India in general but I didn't feel no thrill either.

It was the wish of my recent model and nowadays travel partner Sara and there she is again posing for me to take some photo for her to have a memory.

This is my 3rd time visiting India and the main reason is the Maha Kumbh Mela which is happening in Prayagraj where Yamuna river is pouring into the Ganges. There is also the mystical Saraswati river that is connecting with Ganges and Yamuna on the same holy place. Saraswati is not visible on the physical plain of reality but rather in some higher nonphysical dimensions.

We entered through the west gate into the Taj plateau.

It's interesting how 400 million people is expected to be visiting the Maha Kumbh Mela this year. It is for centuries the greatest gathering of people on the planet and the biggest festival of all time! So, it seems like everyone wants to be there - same like me! 😂 Anyway, I will surely be making another post about the Kumbh few days after I visit it! So, let's go back to Taj now...

The west gate through which we entered and exited after a full tour.

I was expecting a much bigger crowd on the entrance and inside of the Taj grounds but fortunately it wasn't like that. Even we didn't wait for so long to enter nor to exit. People were not pushing each other like in some other times and places in India. The visitors were mostly kind and polite from all over the world.

The grass on the premises was neatly cut like it is usually everywhere in Europe.

The Taj plateau is so huge and vast that it makes it monumental size. It is also made with such extraordinary precise symmetry together with the stone masonry handwork, horticultural parks and fountains that is absolutely a world miracle of art and architecture!

There is also a very negative side of this monument. The guy who ordered it to be built was a local muslim dictator of the time and due to his psychotic behavior, apparently thousands of people died while building the Taj. Some even compare him with Hitler.

Sara definitely adores to pose all around Taj ground.

The 2nd gate that leads towards the Taj

Everywhere I looked I could see how much attention was given to every little detail of the monument. Still to this day, people are taking care of it regarding every little detail same like hundreds years ago.

Sara at the 2nd gate

Sara again 😅

Taj Mahal - the view I got after I passed the 2nd gate

Only when I passed the 2nd gate I realized really huge this court is. It is really incredible. Even the symmetry in this gigantic piece of art makes me admire. Usually I don't like so much the symmetry in arts or any man-made creations.

getting nearer to Taj

of course, with - Sara 😃

Inside of Taj is forbidden to make photography so I respected this rule. Some other people didn't. Also everyone needs to wear special slippers over their shoes or walk bear foot. Sara and me were the only ones who went in bear foot. All the other thousands of people were using these slippers and dumping them just after exiting the the Taj. That was a very bad and disappointing people's behavior, including both the visitors and the staff that manages the premises. Imagine every day thousands of these slippers wasted for only 15 min of use?! Very sad!

Behind the Taj, on the north, flows the dirtiest holy river in India - Yamuna.

I was researching why Yamuna is totally destroyed and found out that before passing Delhi is pure and of very high level quality but after passing the Delhi barrier Yamuna becomes totally dead and deadly toxic to all life forms. It is even sadder than the slippers. I have 2 times in my life stayed in Delhi for a couple of days. Both of the times I witnessed the real horror and Hell on Earth. It is the dirtiest and most polluted place I've ever seen! Even most of the people I in touch there were dirty corrupted. I also concluded that the Delhi government is the most dirty and most corrupted cause they are the most responsible for the city they are governing! There is small hope to solving this problem and make the Yamuna pure again! There are initiatives of highly conscious and real super normal people to save this river! I hope they will succeed in the nearest future!

All around the interior and exterior of the Taj are these Arabic scriptures that I do comprehend and on all 4 corners the same towers are built (minarets).

This building is on the east and the same one stands on the west too.

A bit more of Sara

The view from the Taj terrace over yards and fountains towards the south and 2nd gate in the distance.

All together, it is a magnificent artefact of the past times. We could have also lived without it but when it already stands there we can also continue to admire it as one of the greatest architectural achievements of mankind and also the proof endless possibilities and power that we have when we are forced or voluntarily united under the same initiative. We can really do anything we imagine!

In architecture I like patterns a lot, especially those which have depth like the columns on the last photo below...

One more time - Sara - sweet on the end

This is the first time I didn't take my camera nor laptop to India and it even feels liberating. All the photos I made with Sara's phone cause it has much better camera than mine.

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