Taj Mahal Auspicious Day

So we did not have the Taj Mahal on our itinerary but we got done a day early and there it was...; why not.

Then all of a sudden it felt like an auspicious day and we dressed for it; me in  Shalwar kameez, my green satin wedding shalwar  (I had worn with my red elfin dress for our wedding 22 years ago), plus embroidered white cotton tunic/'kameez' from Heather. With green 'kata' silk scarf that had just been blessed by the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala.

 Ryan wore his new Kathmandu Flower of Life t-shirt and, lo and behold! it was the same motif on the forecourt of the Taj Mahal! 

What can we say about the Taj Mahal.... It's real and more exquisite than any picture can convey. The translucent marble is never static stone. It has an animated response to colors of sunlight, to moonlight. I'd like to just be there, hang out there, in silence, through dusk and twilights. I'd like to be there at funny hours (like wishing to swim in Hearst Castle swimming pool in the dead of night). At least we did get to see the inside flooded with sunlight and then, dramatically, cast in shadow as the sun  moved from the doorway.

The inlaid marble is as fine as if it had been embroidered and, indeed, the work is painstakingly intricate and still practiced by local men. We got to watch the artisan descendants, now their craft turned to making everything from tabletops to treasure boxes. We bartered hard for our two goblets and felt the stark reality that it is not the artisans who prosper so much as the suave middle men (so like Native Americans not being paid directly handsomely for their exquisite beadwork). 

Also stark that the town of Agra, in which the Taj Mahal has stood for these past 4 centuries, does not reflect this beauty. How would it be if these some 4,000 inlay artisans had somehow been able to turn their phenomenal skill to adorn their own dwelling places... Agra itself could be heaven on earth.

Integral to the Taj Mahal story of course is that it would not be there at all but for the Emperor's grief.  Incredible what the living get to enjoy on account of a dead beloved.

*Shalwar kameez (also spelled salwar kameez or shalwar qameez) is a traditional dress worn by both women and men in South Asia and Central Asia. Shalwar or salwar are loose pajama-like trousers. The legs are wide at the top, and narrow at the ankle. The kameez is a long shirt or tunic. The side seams (known as the chaak), left open below the waist-line, give the wearer greater freedom of movement.