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<\/a><\/p>\nI have a second confession to make.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t find it to be a life-changing experience.\u00a0 I mean, I\u2019m really glad to have seen it.\u00a0 It is a wonder of the world.\u00a0 It\u2019s beautiful.\u00a0 But Isaac at the Udaipur cooking class said he shed a small tear at seeing it and felt like it was a symphony of choral music rolled into one glorious melody.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t get that.\u00a0 I think more than anything it was a sense of, \u201cyeah, that\u2019s truly amazing\u2026\u201d from an intellectual and physical level but emotionally it left me oddly\u2026 unmoved?<\/p>\n
Was that because we rushed through in 45 minutes last night?\u00a0 Was it because I\u2019m a cold hearted sod who doesn\u2019t understand love?\u00a0 Was it because I have mixed feelings about the Shah building this mauseleum to his favorite of his three wives, a woman who died in children birth delivering their 14th<\/sup> child together in 19 years of marriage?<\/p>\n Still, I snapped away with the other tourists, trying to soak in the vibe of the place.\u00a0 And I took enough photos that I think I could rebuild the Taj Mahal using those as blueprints.\u00a0 I could not recreate the interior, which in truth is a recreation of the tomb proper that lies beneath our feet there.\u00a0 The 5.3 million who visit the Taj each year couldn\u2019t possibly fit in the small confines of the crypt tomb proper so they added an exact copy without having people descend into the Taj\u2019s depths.\u00a0 As well, they didn\u2019t allow photographs inside the tomb out of respect for the dead\u2026 and told us as much via carved marble signs that also admonished \u201cquite [sic] please.\u201d\u00a0 Even if it was \u201cquiet please\u201d there was no end to the murmuring and voices echoing about the chambers.\u00a0 ]Kevin’s Note: Not that I should be throwing stones in the marble house — I’ve mispelled probably 95% of the words on this blog… including the word “misspelled”].<\/p>\n The tomb proper is also the one bit of asymmetry in the architectural masterpiece that is the Taj Mahal.\u00a0 As originally built, Mumtaz Mahal lay instate at the center of the room.\u00a0 When the Shah died, 13 years after the Taj was completed, his daughter had him in a larger tomb placed off to the side of his beloved.\u00a0 Which messes up the balance but perhaps in a good way if you believe in one true love (amongst his three wives I might add).<\/p>\n The symmetry of the place is what really got me.\u00a0 The four gates leading into the main courtyard from the street, each one a mirror of the other.\u00a0 The reflecting pools that provided water copies of the surroundings.\u00a0 A functional mosque on one side facing Mecca is mirrored with an exact copy of the building that because it was facing the wrong direction of Mecca could not be used as a mosque.\u00a0 And the Taj dome itself is perfection personified, with optical tricks of perception to make it all appear uniform even if up close there\u2019s a size difference (but mirrored on all sides so symmetry remains.\u00a0 The four minarets are tilted slightly outward in the event of an earthquake so they would fall AWAY from the main dome structure\u2026 a forward thinking plan since up to that point nobody could remember an earthquake ever happening in the area.<\/p>\n But I kept feeling\u2026 me.\u00a0 There was no parting of the mist to reveal an insight into love or humanity or self or place in the world.\u00a0 Ultimately it\u2019s a place of beauty, it\u2019s a thing of beauty.\u00a0 But it is still just a thing.<\/p>\n The quest for self-actualization continues\u2026 as it should I suppose.\u00a0 Self-actualization by definition is for oneself, by oneself.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t defined by others or what others have done or will do.\u00a0 It comes from within.\u00a0 People often speak of India as a spiritual place, a place that people have come to find enlightenment.\u00a0 The Beatles, your granola loving college roommate, and yes, even me.\u00a0 To commingle rock bands, we may not always find what we want, but if we try real hard, we just might find, we get what we need.<\/p>\n And perhaps all we need is love.<\/p>\n Is the Taj Mahal monument to one\u2019s soulmate the pinnacle of love?\u00a0 Or is it more the IDEA of the monument that truly matters?<\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a>\u00a0 <\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0 <\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n
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