| 11th Mar, Wednesday - Holi - festival of colors | | | | - f) The architect who worked on this wonder was |
| 04:00 hours - Woke up | | | | from Turkey, an earthquake prone country. So his |
| 05:15 hours - Left for Agra. Being "Holi" - festival of | | | | prime intention was to safe guard this extremely |
| colors, majorly celebrated in | | | | precious creation from any natural disaster. Hence he |
| Northern region, | | | | used Ebony wood, which is most expensive, very |
| everyone had advised us to cancel our trip since | | | | strong and shock resistant wood. This wood requires |
| there | | | | moisture. Hence there are 68 wells under the Taj |
| might be some | | | | where the Ebony Wood is floating. Hence also the |
| problem. | | | | logic on constructing Taj on the banks of River |
| 07:40 hours - Reached Agra. Even the Driver was | | | | Yamuna. |
| amazed that we managed to reach | | | | |
| Agra within 3 hours | | | | - g) The 4 pillars of the Taj are also strategically |
| on a clean, traffic free road. | | | | constructed in such a way that the front two tilts |
| 08:00 hours - We hired a Camel rick for Rs 125 for | | | | towards the outer side while the two behind tilts |
| to and fro the main gate (bargained | | | | backward. Incase if someday they fall, there will be |
| from Rs 100 one | | | | no harm to Taj Mahal. |
| way) and a Guide for Rs 75 (bargained from Rs 275). | | | | |
| We | | | | - h) The dome on Top of Taj is 30 feet in height |
| were treated like | | | | |
| VVIP (Very Very Important People) everywhere coz | | | | - i) The doors have Mica Sheets which look like glass |
| of | | | | or plastic see-through door. This mica sheets help |
| limited tourists, | | | | control the room temperature |
| deserted highways, deserted restaurants. | | | | |
| This tour was one | | | | - j) It is made in Persian style. Persians consider Fire |
| of the superb tour ever done with amazing facts | | | | as God. The door architecture resembles to those in |
| shared | | | | Haz Mecca. It is made of 5 stones since a Muslim |
| by our Guide like: | | | | performs "Namaaz" 5 times a day |
| - a) There are 4 gate - East, West, North and South | | | | |
| gates. Main gate of Taj Mahal has 22 domes. The | | | | - k) The White Taj Mahal building took 17 years for |
| figure "22" is a very special figure as far as history of | | | | its construction since it has real precious stones used |
| Taj Mahal goes. | | | | in the single carved designs on marble and the |
| - ü The Taj Mahal took 22 years to be | | | | gardens, fountains, surrounding red stone buildings |
| constructed (1631 to 1653) | | | | were completed in 5 years. |
| - ü 22,000 workers worked on this splendid | | | | |
| wonder of the World | | | | - l) Emperor Shahajahan immensely loved his wife |
| - ü Steps in the Taj Mahal are 22 in number | | | | Mumtaz, when she died he was in the battlefield. He |
| - ü Total cost of construction was Rupees 2.2 | | | | ordered to bury her body till the war was on. After |
| million ie 22 lakhs | | | | the war, he took her coffin to Taj and cremated her |
| - ü Shahjahan died on 22nd Jan 1666 | | | | second time on the left of Taj. After the completion |
| | | | | of Taj, he took it out and again put her coffin in the |
| - b) The fountains are in the centre of the entire | | | | basement and created a tomb in the centre of the |
| premises. The structure on the right of this fountains | | | | white wonder. Even the domes in the Taj are in the |
| is exactly the same as that on the left. Except the | | | | shape of Diamonds cause they were Mumtaz's |
| tomb of Shahjahan beside Mumtaz's tomb (which is | | | | favorite |
| again kept in the centre of the White wonder | | | | |
| creation. | | | | - m) In the courtship of 18 years, Shahajahan and |
| | | | | Mumtaz had 14 children. Out of which 8 had expired |
| - c) There is a mosque built with red stones on the | | | | and only 6 survived. Out of this 6, 4 were males and |
| West - left of Taj Mahal. Because of the symmetry | | | | 2 girl child. |
| logic, there is same structure on the right as well but | | | | |
| this could not be called a Mosque (since Mosque is | | | | - n) Shahajahan was to inherit his empire to his elder |
| always in West direction) so it was termed as a | | | | son - Murad. When Aurangseb, his second son killed all |
| Guest house. But there can not be a guest house | | | | his brothers and put Shahjahan under imprisonment. |
| near a tomb and hence this was unused. | | | | Shahajahan's daughter Jahanara Begum Sahib, loved |
| | | | | him immensely and did not marry to look after her |
| - d) There are 16 Gardens, 8 on the either side of | | | | father. She was with her father throughout his |
| the fountains and 53 fountains in all. This is again | | | | imprisonment period. When he expired she obtained |
| co-incidental to the year of completion of | | | | permission from Aurangzeb and kept Shahajahan's |
| construction 1653, amazing!!!! | | | | coffin in the basement with Mumtaz and created a |
| | | | | tomb on the left of Mumtaz's tomb. This is the only |
| - e) One more special feature of these gardens is all | | | | asymmetrical aspect in Taj Mahal |
| 16 of them are in square shape. They are the only | | | | 10:45 hours - Left Agra. I was extremely happy |
| one square shaped garden in the entire world. Initially | | | | with the wonderful details provided. |
| Emperor Shahajahan had planted fruits, vegetables | | | | This tour's credit |
| and nuts trees but when it went under the rule of | | | | fully goes to my Dad who was very confident |
| Britishers, they beautified the whole garden. | | | | on the tour while |
| | | | | we as usually backed him with full zeal. |