When you have a guide come to your hotel for a 5:15 am tour of the Taj Mahal, the first thing that happens is you get sprayed with DEET. We haven’t seen a mosquito all week but the 42 acres of landscaping there and the cool of early morning brought them out in droves.
Our guide’s name is Sanjay Jain. In India the last name signifies where his family is from and his religion. He told us that Jains are unusually successful, a population of less than 1% that pay 37% of the taxes, with a large portion of them in the diamond business.
“We are the Jews of India!” he boasted.
A short golf cart ride from the hotel brought us down a pink sandstone promenade lined with cheesy concessions to the entrance. With 8 million visitors a year a long wait outside is normal, but we are out of season in April and since it will climb to 106 today this is no surprise.
The early hour was quite pleasant and we walked in with no wait. Sanjay explained that he would make a show of inviting us to use the professional photographers that will approach us on the grounds but that we should say “no” because he could do it better. And, boy, could he.
The Taj Mahal was commissioned by the Mughal Emperor who reigned from 1628-1658, Shah Janan, to house the tomb of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. “Favorite wife” is key here, as he also had 2 other wives, with Mumtaz the most beautiful. He also had hundreds of concubines. Despite that, Mumtaz bore 16 children in 19 years, 14 of whom were born, the last of which caused her death at 37 by hemorrhage. As she died she made two requests to her husband: to never marry again and to erect a monument to her.
He honored her requests, but he still had the first two wives and the concubines.
While I’m on the subject, Muslims believe that if a man follows the rules of Allah, he will go to heaven where he can enjoy a spectacular Garden of Eden with rivers of water and honey and even wine (which they are not allowed to drink on this earth), and virgins who will “accompany” them. Women, on the other hand, can go to heaven but will not get any wine or men.
We’ve all seen many pictures of the Taj Mahal, but its grandeur is only truly appreciated in person. It was built with nonporous white Indian marble with crystals within that cause the building to change hues as the day progresses. There is nothing painted on it, every speck of color is from precious gems, designed by hand by men and their sons down a family line. Years of intensive training are necessary to acquire singular expertise in one particular flower or design. Daughters are not allowed to learn this trade because, when they marry, they could reveal the secrets to their husbands.
The entrance building as seen from the Taj Mahal
Of course, these modern times allow offspring to pursue other interests and the art is disappearing with each generation. There are presently 1700 artisans left to make occasional repairs as they pursue other means of income, mostly making marble figures for tourists. The family in charge of “honeysuckle” flowers has already died off and there is no one left to maintain and repair those designs in the future.
Once inside no pictures are allowed, so I can’t show you the exquisitely beautiful flowers made of gems decorating the low wall framing the tombs. Little known fact is that the actual marble tombs are stored in the basement for protection from theft or invasion. The tombs we see are exact replicas. The faux Empress is in the middle, the faux Emperor, who joined her 35 years later, is on the side. He had planned to build a black marble monument to himself across the river behind the Taj Mahal, but instead his 3rd son killed his two older sons and sent him to exile until his death in order to take over the throne to which a third son is not entitled.
When you go on a guided tour with Jerry, he doesn’t listen to the guide, he deposes him. It sounds senile, but it’s really his lawyerly way of confirming facts.
Guide: All of the colors are from gems. There is no paint anywhere. For example, the black is Onyx.
Jerry, pointing up multiple times during the visit: Is that paint? Is that? How about that over there?
Jerry, after the third time the guide pointed out the black Onyx: So, what’s the black . . . Jade?
Guide: The Mughals were Muslim, here is the Muslim Mosque, the Mosque faces west to Mecca.
Jerry: So, they were Hindus?
I’m used to it. Here is an excerpt from last evening in our room.
Jerry: Did you take the towel I had on the bed?
Me: No.
Jerry: Are you sure?
Me: I didn’t take the towel.
Jerry: Are you suuuuure? It isn’t here.
Me: Stop talking. (This is a phrase I have adopted to replace my earlier breaking point bursts of expletives).
Back to the Taj Mahal, it is a work of perfect symmetry and optical illusions. There are 4 buildings: the entrance, from which one can see the monument perfectly situated through the entrance archway; the Taj Mahal; an operating Mosque to one side and a perfect replica of the mosque on the other side. The replica is called the Guest House, but no one has ever stayed in it. It is there solely for symmetry.
Surrounding the monument are 4 identical minarets . . . they lean slightly outward so that if there’s ever an earthquake they’ll fall away from it. There are diamond designs on the entrance building columns that appear to be facing outward at the bottom but inward at the top. (Mad Magazine used to feature optical illusions, remember?)
There are thousands of pigeons living in, on and around the monument. We saw some metal rings installed on the central dome and thought it was some sort of pigeon deterrent, but found that during WWI the British installed them to hold a huge tarp to hide the monument from air attack. The Indians have kept the rings in place so as not to cause damage to the marble while removing them.
Jerry asked questions about how often they clean the pigeon droppings (once each night), and felt compelled to point them out during much of our tour.
We weren’t able to stick around all day to watch the sun play its tricks on the marble facade. Instead we went to a museum to see magnificent tapestries created by a genius named Chams, who was named a tapestry master by the time he was 13. In his 90’s he went blind but then somehow created a school to proliferate his art.
I wondered why the lovely gentleman there was spending so much time with us — each of the 7 enormous tapestries was revealed to us in turn in a dark room by lifting a curtain by remote control, accompanied by background music, but none of the drama was necessary — with each lit tapestry we GASPED in unison. There was a leopard attacking a peacock, a Bengal tiger whose eyes followed you as you moved, a vase of spectacularly draping flowers, even a tall light skinned Jesus surrounded by sheep from this Muslim artist (“There are no politics in art,” he said). But then he invited us upstairs to “see an ancient emerald necklace” –and he did show it to us — but “upstairs” was his family jewelry store, Kohinoor, quite famous for centuries in India.
As Jerry sat on a couch and checked his emails, I had an idea that I might replace my gold wedding ring I no longer wear with a ruby ring from India. We’re celebrating 20 years on May 29 . . . and, to commemorate, I thought I might shop for and select my wedding ring alone as it happened in 1999. So I did. It is perfect for me. There are 7 small Indian rubies, which tend toward a dark pink rather than a deep red, banded in white gold, a modest but beautiful wedding ring at a price that even a husband can love.
We were then driven 4 hours to Jaipur, a city known for being painted “pink” (which is really terracotta) to celebrate the 1876 visit of the Prince of Wales and Queen Victoria. At yet another spectacular Oberoi, we were welcomed with a toss of rose petals over our heads as we entered, then the traditional forehead blessing dot and marigold lei.
Too exhausted to eat out, I dined in with Hugh Hefner. On my plate is Paneer, which is cottage cheese in the consistency of Tofu . . . quite delicious in a thick Indian sauce, with a side of lentils and garlic naan.
There are 40 peacocks living on the hotel grounds.
Big day today, the Taj Mahal and a wedding ring. Tomorrow we tour Jaipur with Vijay, a modern day Hindu in some ways, but with an arranged marriage to a woman he clearly adores.
Love to all, Georgia
gmjoja 
I want a photo of the ring! Can’t wait to see it in person. xoxo
Yes yes! Ring picture, please! Also, I now want to go to the Taj Mahal even more, but only if Jerry can be my guide.