A VIEW OF THE TAJ

This was my first view of the Taj Mahal in 1990. I got a map of Agra and showed a taxi driver the way to the other side of the Yamuna river, where we drove through tiny hamlets and fields, with occasional glimpses of  the white marble dome. A little sandy track led down to the riverbank, with the unbelievably lovely view of the great mausoleum above its sandstone retaining wall. The next day I went to the tomb itself, through the bazaar and the metal detectors, one of thousands of tourists swarming over its marble paving like termites. This experience wasn’t quite so magical - until happily it rained, the crowds disappeared and I found myself alone with the marble, the geometric inlays and reflections in the wet paving.

On this bank are the ruins of a sandstone wall with one surviving corner tower. Recently they have unearthed remains of the Mehtab Bagh, a moonlight pleasure garden completed, like the Taj, by 1643: a big reflecting pool and a bangaldar pavilion directly opposite the closed, ‘Paradise’ garden of the tomb. Shah Jahan could come here by barge from the fort, to sit and look at his beautiful white creation across the water.