Mist

The Taj Mahal's lure woke us up by dawn. But the queue was already long by the time we were there. The morning was misty and the first rays of the sun were pure and golden. They were like a kiss upon the monument, which has a rather magical aura, the white marble almost blending into the sky in its translucence. I feared it might suddenly dissolve into nothingness, leaving only a few fumes behind if I blinked. Inside the premises, a fight for photographs ensued. Everyone wanted to pose upon specific benches to have the perfect photo against the famous monument. The guides are expert photographers, with recommendations for some interesting frames to highlight the geometric skill that went into the monument's construction, as well as the several interesting optical illusions. At one point, a quarrel broke between guides of two large groups.

Alternatively, one can always park oneself on one of the less preferred benches (with views of the monument no less beautiful) and have a quiet moment imagining what silence could do to architecture like that.

I enjoyed our visit to Itmad-up-Daulah's (Emperor Jahangir's Prime Minister and Mumtaz Mahal's grandfather) tomb, which was the first monument to be constructed out of white marble, a major shift from red sandstone at the time. It was relatively isolated, calm and windy. Tourists were reading, doing yoga and soaking in the silence. I found this butterfly there and it will perhaps be my favourite shot of the trip. Everything came together and I was able to frame and expose it the way I had conceived. S and I spent a long time walking around, climbing a few neat vantage points looking at the toxic Yamuna river and wondering how beautiful the place would have been when it was lush green, the river clean and ruled by emperors who found grand architecture a suitable medium to voice their creative and scientific inspirations.

I was in two minds about visiting Fatehpur Sikri which borders a neighbouring state and would delay our return considerably. Skipping it though would have left us with regret so we braved some awful traffic to reach this ancient city on top of a hill, overlooking the lush green countryside. The landscape around was calming. The courtyard of the mosque was very similar to the Jama Masjid in Delhi. What was however strikingly different was the visionary Emperor Akbar's new religion Din-i-ilahi where he tried to uphold the virtues of all three popular religions of his time - Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. This had a bearing on the architecture which had elements and style from all three of them. Even when we were a couple of kilometers away, our car was stopped by local youth who wanted to be our guides. This kind of pestering, even among the souvenir sellers can mar the joy of a trip like this if one isn't expecting them.

While returning we went the wrong way for a couple of kilometers but turned back well on time before hitting the highway. The villages in this region are very beautiful with pure evening sunshine upon neat fields, clean roads, abundant greenery and a clean air. Some of the villages, with women working in the fields, youngsters running around on the streets and taking goats out to graze, chasing them among the ridges looked almost idyllic. When asked for directions, the villagers were patient and made sure we understood. Once on the right track, there was this brief moment of impatience when we were about 170 km from the Delhi and the distances were chipping away in slow motion. Then of course there were the stories and legs that felt like a hiker's followed by some delicious (and very spicy) dinner before reaching home.