A side of the Taj you’ve never seen: The Taj Mahal’s Lovely Backside

The Taj Mahal’s Lovely Backside

Travel clichés.

We love to hate them and yet, we continually do them.

After I wrote the article, Can hype kill famous landmarks… like Angkor Wat?, more famous sites erupted to memory, like a serial killer’s growing body count.

Angkor Wat wasn’t the first site to bite-the-dust. Nope, there’d been others before it.

The Eiffel Tower.  

I have only one memory of it–  being squished in an elevator and suffering a long queue, all for a 15 minute view of Paris that I now can’t remember.

The Sistine Chapel.

Bumper-to-bumper traffic at a snail’s pace through displays of art artifact, only to arrive upon my long-awaited prize… the ceiling painted by Michelangelo. Unfortunately, slide projections in darkened art history class lectures made the actual painting seem faded, not to mention… smaller. For an art student and big-time fan of Michelangelo’s works, it was a huge letdown. One, which came with neck cramp!

Reasonably, you can’t get travel-gasms from every sight you see. And when you’re fighting heat, hype and huge crowds, sometimes, a postcard offers a more romantic perspective than the real thing.

…Perhaps that’s why I wasn’t particularly dying to see the Taj Mahal.

Seeing the Taj Mahal is a dream for every traveler who visits India.

In person, the Taj Mahal is as beautiful as the love story of Emperor Shah Jahan erecting this mausoleum to honor his deceased wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

…Forget that its beauty is silently stained by the blood of 20,000+ craftsmen, who labored for 22 years, only to get their hands chopped off and eyes gorged out, so as not to replicate it or witness anything grander!…

The Taj is everything you imagine it to be in architectural poetry. Each angle is exactly as every photo or postcard has captured it.

The clinching view is almost always this.

(The quintessential Taj Mahal shot)

If you’re coming from yoga training with a bunch of yogis,… … then your photo may look like this.   Photo by: Asha  Tyska McLaughlin

Beauty or the Beast: Taj Ganj, a cradle for the Taj’s idyllic facade.

But the things we fall in love with aren’t always predictable.

For me, they’re usually things, which I have a personal connection or interact with.

I went to the Taj, early in the morning when it opened. The time was ideal and I wasn’t suffering heat or crowds. I was able to take my time exploring the grounds in silence.

The Taj is a cross between an architect’s heaven and a lover’s poem. In many regards, it holds a delicate and romantic face. But it didn’t blow my knickers off.

Afterall, looking at it I felt like I was viewing it through a glass case.

It wasn’t like Amritsar’s Golden Palace, where visual design meets functionality and you can’t help but feel the vibrational intensity of prayers as they wash over you through a loudspeaker, as you watch pious devotees bathe in the open pool, fall to their knees in prostration …or line up on the long bridge walkway to enter the temple.  That’s an experience.

But put simply, the Taj’s design invokes idyllic beauty… for me, a bit of boredom.

So it’s interesting to note that the Taj Mahal’s surroundings- outside of its gates-  appear to be the opposite of this.

Taj Ganj

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Taj Ganj, is a neighborhood, which rests under the southern shadow of Shah Jahan’s opulent throne.

Centuries ago, it was said that Taj Ganj was a bazaar selling luxuries and jewelry. Today, its appearance hangs ragged with dirt road streets, old and oily looking hotels and restaurant signs worn with sun-faded damage.

It’s a bit of a shanty area; not a place you’d originally expect to find a UNESCO site or the pride of India cradled in.

At first glance, the area appears sketchy and disappointing, but explore the streets and you may find an unusual love here. Like a five o’clock shadow the ganj stands in defiant opposition to the Taj’s beauty, reminding visitors that the Taj Mahal was built by working class hands, blood and sweat and by a people, who lived a simple lifestyle outside of the Taj’s powerful affluence.

Two restaurants in Taj Ganj which serve “KOREIN” food.
Kinda freaky.

A bit of a bazaar feeling still remains with local shops selling fresh produce, sweets, spices, jewelry, housewares, etc…  Meanwhile, larger streets accommodate shops for family doctors, a pharmacy, barbers, tailors, etc…

The area makes for an interesting and delightful stroll, as it’s filled with a warm character of the hard-working Indian masses.

Taj Ganj  in the day
 .  Taj Ganj   at night. 
   Local pharmacy  Neighborhood  milk man  .  Women at bangle shop Woman shops for bangles and has them fitted.
 Potato seller

What is life like living next to a world-famous landmark?

For a site that’s drawn millions across the globe each year, Taj Ganj residents don’t appear any more “well-off” or fattened by their glamorous neighbor, than any other Indian town. Nor have they set up blocks of souvenir shops (although there are strings of souvenir shops at the west gate), to cash in on tourism. They don’t even push you to buy anything!

Surprisingly, local life doesn’t revolve around its celebrity neighbor the way you think it would. Residents go about their lives un-phased; and the ganj refuses to go out of its way to invite tourist  and modern sensibilities in the way Goa might with its international restaurants, hippie-rasta clothing shops, glow sticks and bakery cafes. Travelers can expect to find a no-fuss laid back town with its simple charm being the ability to do its own thing and refusal to change in the face of tourism.

The ganj may not be idyllic or even very pretty .

But is a very real beauty, that one shouldn’t overlook.

Photo slideshow of Taj Ganj residents below. Please wait to load…

A wife and mother runs a shop selling curd and lassis  

Festival lantern holder for wedding procession   Tailoring shop

Where to stay in Agra?

There’s a range of great budget hotels in Agra. The problem is always finding one of good quality and standard.

Taj Ganj  holds several guesthouses (and hotels) for the budget backpacker. The lodges boast a close proximity to the Taj at cheap prices; however, the joints here can range from decent to gritty. Some claim views of the Taj,  mostly from the rooftop. There’s a few recommended restaurants to dine at in Taj Ganj as well as, a few basic convenience or houseware shops, where you buy toiletries and snacks.

Also, for security purposes, tuk tuks and vehicles aren’t allowed into Taj Ganj. Tuk-tuks will drop you off outside the safety limits and you have to walk in.

Joney’s Place, a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant which made Lonely Planet’s recommended list for its lassis.

East of the Taj Mahal, you’ll find Fatehabad Road, where modern family-friendly hotels (with pools) sit near parks, cafe chains, maybe even a Pizza Hut. Cantonment and Sadar Bazaar areas offer something for everyone

If you’re a backpacker, with a guidebook and time to check out deals on foot,  you could ultimately score a good place, but your stamina may get a good workout.

If you’re packing a family, you may not want to conduct your budget hotel search in the same fashion. You’ll want to book a hotel in advance– affordable, clean, respectable and preferably without the culture shock of broken toilets, stained walls, critters, etc… For a hotel search, check out www.trivago.com. It pulls in the lowest prices from the top hotel aggregator sites from around the world, it’s easy to navigate and you can see your hotel’s distance from the nearest landmark site.

Information:

Official website: www.tajmahal.gov.in

Tickets for foreigners 750 ruppees
Hours: Sunrise-Sunset (closed on Fridays)
Government-run budget tour (Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri)- click here
-  Full & Half-day tours, departure from Agra Cannt Train station at 10:30A

About traveling to Agra & map: http://www.mapsofagra.com/

The Taj Mahal