Anand Sivashankar's blog

And there, I've scaled the icy heights of tourist regalia by taking my ( unaccountable) first dekko at the Taj--in whose memory all those paeans were hung to dry earlier. This was as a part of the many-splendoured exercises that the managers were put to as part of their strenuous schedule , and hence was befittingly planned at 6 AM in the morning. So I hit the sack after deciding on the basis of the far on offer that watching Germany capitulate to the Czech Republic or for that matter the inscrutable Dutch run rings around an overrated Latvijan side made little sense. So after setting the two mobile phones for an alarm call and the hotel help desk for a rooster wake-up at 5 AM, worse, waking up and then langurously drawing the ineluctable conclusion that I need another set of alarm times, finally the bus load of turistas reached the place.
Strangely, a battery operated bus ferries people till the entrance after which the eager viewer is frisked to the bone. Luckily we had a pair of excellent guides who made the imagery and the vividness come alive while dispelling many notions about the legend.The tomb itself has two gates on the side--one mosque and a guesthouse flank the monument.
The tomb is a masterpiece and even a layman can grasp the painstaking attention to detail and the quest for perfection--all in all, a fine work of art and some memories to cherish o a trip that has been quite time-tied and stretched.
Apparently, Shah Jehan had other grandiloquent plans that death beat him to, and thus this celebrated icon lives on--a tourist delight !!