Gradually, the humidity of the air began to moisture me causing droplets of sweat to run down my face. The coating of foundation was, likely, all to be smudged as I wiped the sweat from my forehead. I visualised my face, at this point, to be patchy with different shades, resembling a guinea pig. My hands began to slip off the thick metal bar attached to the trolley. The heat felt disgusting and threatening. I tried to ponder about something else so that I did not have to repeatedly suffer this warmth. Glancing over to the other side away from the airport, about four hundred metres ahead, virtually nothing could be seen except for small vehicle lights. The pollution of thick clouds of smoke from loud, huge monsters, what were meant to be trucks, were responsible for the prevention of visibility.
The topography of this area was not what I had expected. At a closer distance towards me were taxis parked not in an orderly manner but more like a car boot sale car park. I was amazed to see so much liveliness at such hours of early morning. Maybe I was prejudging my surrounding and at present was in a less developed part of India. “Wow! You’ve grown so much”. Our relatives had finally arrived.
Although I didn’t recognise them I, respectfully, did the usual “hello, nice to see you”.
Moreover, it was pleasing to hear them speak English. We were escorted to a rather bright four-wheel drive, which had black tinted windows. There was two of the kind and I suppose that was what we needed to manage to place the luggage in.
The exterior inside the vehicle was leather and it felt most uncomfortable, as the seats were exceedingly hot due to the heat outside.
As we were driven away from such poverty, the scene in front gradually appeared to become perceptible. Lines of numerous vehicles crowded the roads and persistent sounds from transport horns were to be heard. Although I had been experiencing India road life for a matter of minutes, it was clearly understood that drivers use indicators rarely, however prefer using an invidious sound device for communication. Whether large or small, vehicles were imprudently intercepting one another. The driver sat not even a metre away seemed to be doing the same. I was immediately constrained to grab on to a lousy strap, which was seen as a seat belt. My concentration began to fade from actions around me and my eyes could no longer remain open.
“Ouch!”
Rubbing my head gently, I leapt up to see where we had arrived. My eyes forced open from seeing such a beautiful building. It was enormous. It seemed that during my sleep I had been transferred into a different country. This area was a total contrasts from what I had seen, roughly, a couple of hours ago. Lights were shining on all sides of the building as if to be spotlights in a theatre. In the distance there was a huge carved wooden door with wide marble stairs that had thick engraved pillars on each side. The driver opened my door and while stepping out onto the cream coloured marble I felt like royalty. My parents were chatting away with the relatives and they began to walk towards the house. I stood still and proceeded to examine the beauty around me. Silence. Voices had faded away. The fresh air was oxygen to my lungs. The silence was like therapy to my mind. It was pure relaxation. The imperturbable slight breeze past me as I casually strolled down the path, towards the entrance. Looking upwards into the crimson sky, I witnessed the sun gently awaken the world with its soothing apricot rays, until I was rudely interrupted by my father summonsing me inside. Annoyed at being torn away from my utopian feelings, I stormed in.
Overcoming my emotions, I was surprised to see so many new faces. Amongst them a few appeared considerably younger than me however, it was pleasing to see a couple of my age. They were fairly shy and quite, especially the little one who ran to hide behind the sofa. My auntie introduced me to them and told me to take a seat. I sank into the beige leather sofa and listened to the elders talking. Before even having the energy to gulp down the cold drink that was placed on the large table before me, I had fallen asleep.
“Poonam, Poonam! Come on wake up”.
Pushing the warm, feather quilt from my face, the sunlight fiercely blinded my eyes. Yawningly, I stretched my arms. The room had large windows from which I could see the greenery outside. Lazily, I crawled to the end of the bed and as my feet touched the ground it felt painfully cold.“ We are going to see the Taj Mahal today”, announced mother.
Excitingly, I tiptoed to the large window and sat on the ledge. The view was amazing. There were fields surrounding the house and, discreetly, grazing cattle was seen. It picturesque scene was very attracting and persuaded me to continue to admire it. There was a knock at the door so I had been forced to escape from such view. As I opened it, a man walked in with our luggage. “They must have servants too”, I thought. What an easy life!
Washed, dressed and ready for an interesting day out, I walked through the corridor and down the stairs. My mother and auntie were having breakfast at the dining table and father was reading the paper in the lounge. There were a variety of dishes for breakfast, all set out on the table, but I was tempted to try each of them so I could choose which one I most admired. Having fulfilled my hunger, my cousins were told to give me a guided tour around this huge residence. They spoke very little English but I was embarrassed at the fact that I was unable to speak my own national language. As they leaded me up the circular flight of stairs, I noticed an oval shaped pond on the side. These features were seen to me as walking around a palace. Eventually reaching the top, we walked into a huge spacious room, which was only furnished with an average sized snooker table. My cousin handed me a cue and striking the ball on the table, my uncle called us down. Leaving the room, I definitely knew what I was going to be doing as soon as we returned from the visit tonight.
We divided into two cars and my sister and I were put with our cousins. It appeared abnormal to see very little traffic on the roads and also for it to be so quite. The driver inserted a cassette into the system and the music was very catchy and rhythmic. Admiring the scenery, I noticed sugar cane plants, hundreds of them, and there were labourers cutting them down. As we drove off this country road it was fairly obvious that we had entered the city. The city of Agra. The home of the Taj Mahal.
The roads were congested with traffic, people were cycling to work, children were walking to school and this was everyday life. After following directions, we fortunately arrived in time before the busy hours.
Enthusiastically, we walked towards the large wrought iron gates, which had a counter for where you paid the admission charges. The snow white building stood out dramatically from miles away. It was enormous and tourists near it at the time looked like ants from a distance. Leading towards the building were gardens with flowers that had almost every colour in the rainbow and even more attracting were the fountains that entertainingly danced in the waters. The scent of roses roamed the air but departed as we moved away. Approaching the ninths wonder of the world I was amazed to see the architecture and labour that had been performed to build such structure.
The story of this building fascinated me immensely. It was ordered to be built by a king in the memory of his beloved wife. His wife had died at a young age and to show how much he loved her Shah Jahan directed more than twenty thousand men to labour for twenty years until it was completed. Inside the building were both the king and his wife’s graves. A beautiful marble screen surrounded them and all around the room were lit candles releasing a calm and peaceful atmosphere. The flames danced to the movement of the breeze. The tranquillity and manner of humanity in this area was very respectful and strict. Visitors remained quite at all times and volunteers who cleaned and supervised this palace appreciated this.
Leaving the palace, after a knowledgeable visit, I was now looking forward to my next excursion throughout India.
