New Delhi, India 5/11/1995 Camels, Cars and Trucks Share Highway

(NEW DELHI, INDIA, May 11, 1995)

by Bob Van Leer

Today we visited the famed Taj Mahal. Many monuments do not live up to expectations, but the Taj Mahal meets and exceeds anything we imagined. The tomb is breath-takingly beautiful.

The monument was built as a mausoleum by the mughal emperor, Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, Arjumand Banu Begum, who died in childbirth at the age of 39. She had 14 children in the 18 years they were married.

The Taj Mahal is built at Agra, the old capital of India, 133 miles south of Delhi. It was built between 1631 and 1653 by a work force of 20,000.

Our guide told us the basic building is brick, but all that is visible is the white marble surfacing.

Shah Jahan lies alongside his wife in the lower level of the tomb. It is built above the Jamuna River at its rear, with formal gardens and reflecting pools on the main side.

It is the most popular attraction in India, drawing almost 3 million visitors per year, mostly Indian. The overall height of the building is 243 feet. It is surrounded by four minarets 131 feet high. The Taj Mahal (which translates to Crown of the Palace) is flanked by a mosque on one side and another building on the other, both built of red sandstone. The red buildings emphasize the pure white of the marble.

Our guide said tourism is a major industry in the 1.5 million population city, centered on the Taj Mahal, and steps are being taken to try to prevent any pollution problems. Two power plants and some small foundries were shut down and across the river, a 400 hectare park is being developed.

DANGEROUS ROAD
The drive to Agra takes about five hours for the 133 miles, counting a break. It is a toll road almost designed to be dangerous. High speed trucks and passenger vehicles mix with farm tractors and camel and bullock carts on a mostly two-lane road. We counted the mangled bodies of vehicles, mostly trucks, of four serious accidents on just the way there. Two of the wrecks looked as if they may have been fatal.

The countryside traveled is lush, flat farmland. It is diked for irrigation and seems to grow mostly rice and wheat with a few eucalyptus plantations. There were hundreds of water buffaloes and a couple of milk processing plants. Our guide said all the milk we have been drinking came from buffaloes. We noticed no difference in taste, except perhaps it was a little richer.

MANURE PATTIES
Along the road a common sight was stacks of manure fashioned by hand into patties about a foot in diameter and a couple of inches thick. These were placed in circular stacks to dry and, when dry, were covered with a smooth layer of dung and made into a little house with a peaked roof to keep them dry. The patties are cooking fuel.

We saw more camels and water buffalo than we expected, but no elephants. Apparently they are little used anymore except for ceremonial purposes and giving tourists’ rides. Our guide said they are still used some for logging.

The temperature was, to us, baking hot, 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit). Our guide said it had actually cooled off from the day before when it was about 45 degrees (113 Fahrenheit).

From there, we went to the Agra Fort, built by Shah Jahan’s grandfather, which includes a palace with a view of the Taj Mahal.

The Mughals came through the Kyber Pass with only 8000 troops and took over the sub-continent. The means they used was the animosity between warring chieftains of small, independent states. They ruled for about 200 years until defeated by the British.

The fort, a huge structure, was finished in 1574. We could only look over a quarter of it because the Indian Army still uses the rest.

Our stay at Delhi is at an end. We will leave the hotel at 5:00 a.m. for a two-hour flight to Bangalore in south India. It will be a long day, concluding with dinner with industrialists and local media.