A Poem Written in Marble

A pleasant morning from my 8^th standard, the teacher came to the class carrying the history book. Basically, history is a boring subject but for me, it was an interesting subject. Even though I didn’t score good marks in history I was a good listener in the class. I love the way the ancient people built things with minimum technology and some of it is still confusing. That day, the teacher told us she was going to talk about the love story of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz and about a large sculpture that stands as a symbol of love. From there onwards it had entered to my heart, one of the seven wonders of the world, the great Taj Mahal.

                            When I got an opportunity to study in Madhya Pradesh, one of my aims was to see the Taj Mahal. Because Agra is near there when compared to Kerala. I learned more about Taj in my civil service classes, most of the readers of my blog may not know about it and it’s a past story. From that history class at the Civil Service Academy, I learned minute details regarding the Taj. About the precious stones in it, the secret champers, the history of building it, the methods used while building it pre conditions of Mughals and architects, about the present conditions, everything inspired and motivated me to reach there.

It happened on another pleasant day while I was sitting at one of my favorite places in IGNTU, Ram Dayal Munda Central Library, Aparna called me and said that they have got permission from HOD for the leave application and they are planning to go somewhere. Then with the presence of our 'Gundi' Radha, we have planned where to go and how to go. There were mainly 3 places on our bucket list, Mathurai, Agra, and Delhi. There is no need for any doubt about which place encouraged me to join that trip. The next day morning we started our trip. A sudden trip, a sudden planning, a sudden arrangement, everything was sudden except my desire to see that wonder. At the time of planning, we were four persons, the MBA mallus but after that, our Assam boy Urkhau also joined by asking permission from someone special for him. So it was a journey of south and east to the north. Because of the sudden trip, we didn’t have a confirmed train ticket, so we took the general ticket and entered the sleeper compartment, TTE was our fear on that journey!. Our first destination was Mathurai in UP and after spending almost 2 days we took the train to Agra, in that journey, my mind whispered to me that you are going to fulfill one of your dreams. At night around 2 am, we reached Agra and took a hotel to stay and decided to go and see the Taj in the early morning around 5 am before the rush of the huge crowd. But due to the continuous journey, everyone slept and woke up after 8 am. But there was no change of plan to see Taj.

                                                   Finally, we reached the ticket counter of the Taj Mahal, after completing the ticket verification I just moved fast to witness the symbol of love, and later I noticed that I had come up with my friends, my mind was totally blank at that time. I can’t describe how I felt by moving my path towards the Taj. At last, we reached the entry gate of the Taj Mahal, it seemed like clouds in the path, but when we moved towards it there was visible the symbol of love, one of the seven wonders, the pride of India, the great Taj Mahal. I just simply look at it for a few seconds without blinking my eyes. I was just seeing a beauty that once I saw in my textbooks. At that particular moment, I didn’t use my phone to capture any pictures, I just wanted to enjoy its beauty with my naked eyes. Later I started to walk slowly towards the Taj, I felt like to enjoying each and minute beauty of it. I clicked many photos, some are good and some are not, but definitely, it’s a memory. I entered the Taj, we are not allowed to take photos from there, my eyes searched for the places where a variety of semiprecious stones like pietra dura, agate, turquoise, lapis-azuli, coral, onyx, cat’s eye, jade, bloodstone was once carved and later Britishers took it away. We can see the cenotaphs of Mumtaz Mahal and Shah Jahan, opposite of Taj Mahal there is an unfinished base for creating the Black Taj Mahal from the side of Shah Jahan and history says that due to the high budget of the white Taj Mahal Mughal dynasty lost so many funds and when Shah Jahan start to build another one, he was prisoned by Aurangzeb. Outside of the cenotaphs, it’s a plain veranda with white marble. The Taj Mahal is built with red sandstone and marble and it has an amazing sculpture. It is said that the architect Usthad-Ahmad Lahori was made blind and his hands were cut off after the construction of the Taj Mahal by the emperor. Because the emperor needs this thing to be unique. There are also champers in the base of the Taj and some of them are not opened yet and nobody knows what is inside it, it's like a 'Chamber of Secrets'.

                                                               I was telling all things to my friends who came with me because I just needed to share what I knew about that wonder. After seeing the Taj Mahal and its surroundings we just moved outside. I looked back once more not as the last time because if I get a chance again to see it, surely I will go, seriously I wish for it and definitely it was worth the wait. When we moved away from that symbol of love I just had a feeling that one of my dreams had come true.                                                                                                                                     Agfar