TAJ MAHAL

Of course Agra is more famous for the Taj Mahal (that building behind us at the top) than pipes. Though for MOST of the city, cement, rebar, dog fights, flying kites, and a pervasive smell of poo are much more prevalent than white stone.

We arrive early in Agra on another night train where we share a berth which means hardly any sleep. It's too early to check-in so we go to see the famous thing. It seems almost silly to describe the Taj. You've all seen it too. We saw a calendar in another town with William Jefferson Clinton saying, "the world is divided into those who have seen the Taj Mahal and those who have not." But who has NOT seen it? Its on a calendar on a postcard in a film.

Okay, it is lovely, it is an astonishing thing to have been built, it is more beautiful than another other building I have other seen. "A teardrop on the cheek of eternity," writes one writer and this is perhaps the most beautiful way to say it--it requires the most lavish and labor-intensive work of art imaginable for simple tiny human mourning to make even a small mark upon the flow of time.

But we are tired, and the lines are long, and none of our pictures looks as nice as the one that has been at the top of our blog for the last month.

I am reminded of the essay "Loss of the Creature" which addresses the difficulty of authentically experiencing something (he uses the Grand Canyon as his example) that is so ingrained in your consciousness. He suggests several useful methods for "recovering" the Grand Canyon with fresh eyes.

"It may be recovered in a time of national disaster. The Bright Angel Lodge is converted into a rest home, a function that has nothing to do with the canyon a few yards away. A wounded man is brought in. He regains consciousness; there outside his window is the canyon."