The writer and his wife, Anis Salihah, at the marble bench that's very popular with tourists. — Photos: MUHAMAD YUMNI RAFIE
India's Taj Mahal is an iconic monument that’s known globally. It has survived many adversities through several centuries, and is still standing strong in Agra today.
My wife and I are so lucky to have visited this ancient architectural wonder some time back while we were on a short tour of India’s popular destinations. We went to Agra by train from Jaipur; but you can also take a taxi or a bus to get there. There are no flights that go directly to Agra as we were told that the airport there was only for military use. The nearest international airport is in New Delhi.
Agra is in the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is the northern part of India. We arrived in the city at nearly 10pm and since we haven’t had our dinner yet, we stopped at the famous Wahid Biryani Restaurant to have our fill. Apparently, this restaurant founded by Wahid Ali Qureshi has been around for over 60 years, and is very popular with locals and tourists. The first shop opened in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, but there is an outlet in Agra too.
My wife and I shared a meal of mutton biryani because we didn’t want to be too full just before bedtime; at about RM12 (with a soda and mineral water), our supper at this famous restaurant was an affordable one.
We took an auto rickshaw to get to our hotel and was quite excited about the ride, even though it was only for five minutes. An auto rickshaw is a three-wheeled vehicle that’s commonly used all over India. We booked our ride using an app called “Ola Cabs”. We found this app to be very convenient for travellers like us as you can book three types of transportation – a car, motorcycle or an auto rickshaw – on it.
We woke up super early the next morning because we wanted to catch a glimpse of the sunrise at the Taj Mahal. Our “mission” was to take a picture with the Taj Mahal in the background before it got too crowded. However, we sort of “failed” in our mission as we were a little late – the gates opened as early as 6am but we arrived at 6.30am!
Even the trees are lined up in perfect symmetry at the complex.
Our hotel was actually just a five-minute walk to the place, which was super convenient. We made sure to buy our tickets online beforehand from the official website (https://www.tajmahal.gov.in) so that we didn’t have to queue up on the day of our visit.
We paid about RM60 to get into the complex, and another RM12 (approximately) for access into the mausoleum itself.
Even though it was only 6.30am, there were already a lot of people lining up to enter the complex. Security was really tight – visitors were not allows to bring tripods, large bags and of course, weapons, as well as a few other items into the place. Remember to check the full list on the official website if you ever decide to visit one day.
Since we had done our homework, we only brought our passports, smartphones and wallets with us so that we could go through the security screening process faster.
There are three gates at the Taj Mahal complex that you can enter from, but only the East and West gates were accessible to the public when we were there. The South gate used to be open but perhaps the authorities were doing some maintenance or upgrading works at the time.
We decided to enter via the East gate, where we saw the four gardens just before the North gate, which is the main gate or the “Great Gate”.
The North gate is also known as the 'Great Gate'.
As you go through this grand entrance, you will somehow experience an optical illusion as the Taj Mahal seems to move further away the more you get close to it.
Once you stand right in front of it, though, you will see just how beautiful and magnificent the monument is. And it changes colour too, or at least it reflects different colours. In the morning it looks a little pink-ish, at noon it is milky white, while in the evenings just before sunset, it looks somewhat golden.
The Taj Mahal was built in 1631 by order of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, in memory of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died after giving birth to their 14th child. It took 22 years for it to be completed, and it is said that over 20,000 labourers and 1,000 elephants were used to construct it.
We spent three and a half hours wandering around the Taj Mahal complex that also consists of a mosque, a guesthouse, and of course, the gardens. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us to visit the place, and we loved every moment of it. We now want to learn more about Indian history and culture, and see more of the beautiful land, so we will definitely make another trip to the country in the future.
The views expressed are entirely the writer’s own.
