Travelling in India is always fun and the added excitement of seeing important monuments makes it all worth while. In the meantime you fight the smog, a fall smoke created by diwali, one of the major festivals of Hinduism, it spiritually signifies the victory of good over evil, knowledge over ignorance, and hope over despair. But mostly the burning of the farmers fields after harvest contributes to the smoke and what people are afraid of when visiting Delhi. You have a sense of the pollution from the plane window and in the morning visibility was limited to 200 feet and lifted to 700 by 10hoo.

The first stop is Agra to visit the Taj Mahal, and that’s a must see in real-time. The experience is sensory and the monument is crowded but in a good way. The visit is no more than an hour and you have the impression of the magnitude, a construction that has taken over twenty years. The scale is both beautiful and grand, the sky shines blue this day and we are lucky due to the smokey skies around India at this season.

The first impression of the Taj is captured by a long view through the archway, the great gate stands to the north of the entrance forecourt into the garden. The garden is claimed to be one of the most important in the north of India with more than 300 hundred different trees. This is not original to the Taj and the garden was founded by the British. The travel to Agra is well worth the travel and if you have a chance to see the Taj – it will leave with a lasting memory.

Yes it’s an ivory-white marble mausoleum that attracts 6 million visitors a year and you should avoid it on weekends and holidays or its swamped. The Taj was dedicated and constructed for the 14th wife f the Shah Jahan whose wife passed away during childbirth.

After 14 wives he finally got it right and his youngest son took control and confined his day to the palace and killed his brothers – and Emperor Aurangzeb was the ruler until he passed away at 88.  After his passing and destruction of many churches and temples his empire fell apart.

The Taj Mahal was said to be used to assert Jahani perfection of the Mughal leadership but this is theory is debated about by scholars, but I would say its certainly a good example of  how to impress people. By the time the Mughals constructed and finished the Taj their Persian roots had become Indian, and the workers who carried out most of the work were integrated into the ways of Indian lifestyle.

A pair of courtyards is found in the northern corners of the jilaukhana which provided quarters for tombs attendants.and guardians. This residential element provided a transition between the outside world and the other-worldy delights of the tomb complex.