My Rendezvous with Shajahan’s Taj Mahal – Symbol of Love

What do you feel looking at it for the first time?

I remember I was in 6th standard when I saw the Taj Mahal for the first time, I accept it was a long years back in my life, but the memories of seeing such a beautiful architecture was fascinating and still vivid in my memory.

Before, I personally visiting this place the first memory of this place was seeing it in a beautiful crafted movie by the one of the finest directors of Tamil cinema, Mani Ratnam’s movie, ‘Mouna Ragam’.

The story of a girl who comes to New Delhi, married to a guy whom she did not want to share his life, but visits the Taj Mahal along with him and her interests in life starts changing...such is the Power Of Love.

Now on my real journey to this place was unexpected. My parents, my sister and a close friend of ours went on a tour to Delhi and Agra in the summer holidays. We were excited about the days of journey and those long stays and the different places and the culture along with them. It was an exciting trip, never to be forgotten.

We were in New Delhi viewing all the historical places and when we discussed about the Taj Mahal, it was decided that we had to miss the place due to the distance and lack of time. We had made up our mind and decided sometime later in life will certainly come to visit the Taj.

Maybe, when I get married with my husband on a full moon night, is when the Taj is exquisetively beautiful, reflecting the moon light….[This piece of information I got after I came of age and people talked about love and marriage synonymously and after I had also explained about what I did in my holidays in our School Composition.]

I am fascinated by the historical places and the hidden treasures of the kingly states and the wonderful life, those human beings had. I used to sometimes wonder myself as a Sultan’s daughter and dream myself in the lap of luxury and the exotic buildings and gardens.

Wow! What a life they had…Especially seeing the forts of Delhi, Agra, and the house of the kingdom of Akbar, the Fatehpur Shikari… I had really fallen in love with this countrymen and their life.

We started to our journey to Fathefur Shikari and finished watching the Buland Darwaza - the Watch Tower of Akbar and his kings’ men. What a fabulous palace…that is why it was his Winter Palace.

But, we had sometime left and the taxi driver said you have come so far, so not to miss the Taj Mahal and see it. You might not get another chance and he promised us to take us very quickly to that place and giving us ample time to look around.

That’s it, we said, “Shenshah, hum aa rahe hain, tumhare Taj ko dekhne [Shahjahan, we are coming to see your Taj]!” in a classic historical way, like a king would have declared his statement to his folk.

Then, we set on the journey to the Taj Mahal; I was not feeling well on that day some disturbance in the health happens when you travel, so it was the usual. We hired a taxi to go to Agra from there and during the journey, I wanted to get back to the hotel and take some infinite rest, but keeping company with the people on travel, I spelt most of the journey in the car to Agra sleeping and when I finally woke up I was just in front of the beautiful white building…The Taj.

I just got out of the car and was looking at the Taj with my mouth wide open and a whistle out of my breathlessness. What a huge structured building, what craftsmen…??!!!

We hired a guide to tell us or explain us the magnificent building, a little bit of history, a little bit of journey into that world that was gone-by, that exotic was it all.

We listened to him so excited and nodding at his explanations and acknowledging the guys description with the passing outside structure of the building. It was a great architectural feat from outside.

When we moved in, he said, we are going to see the tombs of Shajahan and Mumtaz Mahal, as it is still believed today that they were laid here after they passed away from this material world.

For a moment I stood froze, Can it be real? If it is, then he must be awake in night to talk to his wife and they might take a tour in the night and spend sometime together.

I could visualize them, walking hand-in-hand and he explaining the beauty of this place and how it matches with her beauty [Mumtaz Mahal is said to be the most beautiful one and Shajahan being head-over-heels in love, that made his long and build this place for her, before she took leave of him from this world and promised to stay with him in the memory of the building.]

It was a promise of a Man to his Lady Love, who was ailing and did whatever that, could please her into a peaceful death, at the least, when he could not strive to save her. It is a great feeling of being loved beyond your existence!!!

The tomb inside another masterpiece in itself…It was wonderfully done. It had a structure crisscrossed walls with holes in-between and it looked like a pattern to let light, and wind pass through and not let the beauty suffer from suffocation.

The passage of light through the small gaps in-between made wonderful patterns on the tomb and the floor and it looked like any moment, Mumtaz might get up and dance heartily in the light and express her love for her husband beside her.

The whole place wasn’t like two dead tombs, it was so much with live and that place looked like a peak into the private bedroom of the King and the Rani. The place was so lively and with so much of air, chillness, light and the warmth.

I looked around I saw people praying to them to give them the strength to carry on their love, some bowed heads, some discussing the building, some silently walking around the tomb, some just not understanding what it is, some just passing by, some busy in their love interests, some kids running around, who did not understand LOVE.

It was a mixed feeling for me…not sure if I will feel the same. But the memory of that place is too much in my mind that I can’t give up this place for many centuries to come, as well.

For some it is a representation of Love and for some it is a Monument, for some it is an Architectural Building for some it is History, today people have gone to describe this place as a Graveyard of the two most important people of History and the Dynasty that ruled India several years back.

Whatever it is, for me it stands as a memory of the King who built an Architectural feat for his loveable wife, as a token and then, he let her sleep there. Even if he could not make her live in it.

He lies beside her in a tomb and I sure he would have lived those days thinking about her and talking to her about the beauty of the architecture and the its structure that he did built to stand across time and tide and people visiting them from all over the world just to feel the power of love.

Shajahan, built it for whatever reason, better know to him, but history tells us something from the building. It was the love for architecture, fine buildings, finest craftsman, finest workmanship, and fine gentlemen lived in centuries ago, leaving us to wonder what we can achieve.

We feel so small in front of it in size and nature…I could not stop wondering the dedication and pain of the people who did see the building being erected and standing for centuries. We are trying to save it from hazards, coz we can’t build one such…

What more small can we feel…Let us not fall in love, let us rise and be with pride that Indian Heritage is not a matter of disintegration, but to live it across time and tide.