Photo Shop: The Taj Mahal

I had one day left over after a work trip in Varanasi, India. I was there to shoot a video for the Global Health Council’s annual conference for my organization. We are an international development NGO and we picked a program in Varanasi because it was compelling and it was a stunning ancient city on the banks of the Ganges. If others were going to do talking heads in offices, we were filming in fields, at temples, and on the Ganges. I have no idea if it will work out, the tapes are all of to London for some producer in a dark room to stuff into a template like the 12-15 other clients they sold on this.

TAKE THE TRAIN: My option was to fly back to Delhi and stay at the plush Hyatt Regency Delhi safely away from anything dangerous or interesting, or getting 204 kilometers south to Agra and see the Taj Mahal. I got a berth on the Bhopal Express out of Nizamuddin Station that I shared with an Indian man who migrated to the US and lived 50 miles from me and a retired colonel in the Indian military who plied us both with whiskey for the three hour train ride. I hopped off in Agra, they were overnighting to Bhopal – an apparently beautiful city with ancient buildings and also the site of the horrible gas incident caused by Union-Carbide that killed thousands (back in 1984). Apparently it’s quite pleasant they tell me. As the drinks continue there are promises of visits to faraway ranches in Dharamasala and dinners hosted in DC. Mobile numbers and emails are traded. They were two of the most interesting people I met on the trip.

GET MET AT THE STATION: I’m proper drunk as I jump off the slowly moving train with my two suitcases and my legs buckle and crash out in front of the hundreds of people I see sleeping at the train station. Nobody seems to notice and I’m met as I stand by a guide sent to me by the hotel to get me from the train station there safe and sound (apparently this doesn’t always go well). I look at the people sleeping and they are well dressed. I mean, shirts tucked into slacks and nice polished shoes. They’re just there sleeping, waiting on a train I guess, but not this one apparently. It still is a large station though as Agra gets a lot of traffic and there are lots of places for you to get lost, a common thought for me on this trip.

I get to the hotel in time to sleep for three hours before waking up at 4 a.m. to get to the Taj before sunrise. I had my tripod handy – that I brought all the way from DC through a week in Istanbul and one week in India – just for this morning.

SUNRISE: Ample Google searches assured me that sunrise at the Taj Mahal was infinitely better than sunset because of many factors including light, fog rising off the reflecting pools, the lack of tourists, etc. I tip the hotel guide hefty to ensure my people are organized in time in the morning (driver and guide). Of course no one is there. They show up at 5:20 and tell me to relax that sunrise isn’t until 6:50 and we’ll be fine. We drive – excrutiatingly slowly – to the parking area where you must get tickets. My driver is still half asleep. Inside, two lines, one for Indians one for non-Indians. As you guessed, the line for non-Indians is much longer. That’s why you get a guide. But, you should get a guide that has some sharp elbows because this dude was getting rolled. We got our tickets after it seemed like every other guide and his little brother hooked up the 50 Swiss and Japanese tourists waiting in line. Then, we start walking to the gate.

GET A RICKSHAW: Scores of fat tourists were zipping past us toward the gate of the Taj as the sun was actually beginning to come up and the dark was beginning to light up. Argh!!! We’re missing it. I’m basically jogging while my guide is 30 yards behind me. By the time we get to the gate we’re maybe the 90th people in line. I was furious until I realized that although we were the 90th, there was at least 200 people behind us. It was busy. But if you want to be there early and get the magic shots without any people in front of you and the Taj, don’t walk from the ticket window!

NO TRIPODS: This one makes sense really, it’s ancient marble that they don’t let you walk on with shoes (you must wear socks, go barefoot, or boot little snuggies over your shoes). They don’t want tripods gouging out holes in that marble. Even so, you won’t get it through the inspection at the gate. A quick list of items prohibited in my short time viewing the screening:
- tripods, cigarettes, lighters, matches, snickers bars, chewing gum, muffin
So unless you know someone special or plan on bribing the right guard, leave the tripod at the hotel. But that leads me to:

GO TO THE NATURE PARK: There is a small nature walk about 5 minutes before you get to the Taj gate on the right. It costs 50 rupees per visitor and if you walk up until the very end, you have a view of the Taj, and the mosque together over some trees. You can set up a tripod and watch the buildings light up as the sun rises behind you and lights them up. Or, at least that’s what I was thinking after I saw that view at noon after I battled with tourists for 4 hours at the Taj. My guide thought that would make up for the rough, earlier start we had.

“You are happy now?”

No, Shebi. I am not happy.

SUNRISE II: But it’s not Shebi’s fault. It’s the whole set up and the fact that the idiot guards at the Taj open the gates at a specific time no matter if the lunar cycle has moved on them and they are keeping you in line during the ABSOLUTE BEST TIME TO TAKE PHOTOS – which is maddening to think that hundreds of people like me traveled hundreds of kilometers and dragged their asses out of bed to take a photo of fog lifting from the Taj, unmolested with people gumming up the view and then be able to brag to friends and enemies about how they were there blah blah blah. But no! The guides must only let you in at 6:45 and then let people through in a trickle.

THE MONEY SHOT: I think the only way you are getting this mythical Google-alleged sunrise shot of the Taj, the fog (didn’t see any), the reflecting pools (were empty), is to do the following:

- Get to the ticket office at 4:30 am (not your lobby, the ticket office about a kilometer from the gate).
- Keep the rickshaw driver who brought you to the ticket gate (or use him to get in the shorter Indian ticket line for your tickets and then he can drive you to the gate).
- Don’t have any of the items mentioned above on you or you will have to take them back to a locker (yup, at the ticket office, one kilometer away) so you can breeze through security.
- Run as fast as you can through the beautiful Great Gate (don’t look, it’s a distraction…focus!!) and run past the first reflecting pool (or pit) and hurdle the first bench and set up for a series of photos before you are greeted by others doing the same. You will maybe have 30-45 seconds so don’t drink a bunch of whiskey on the train the night before.

Or you can take your time, realize that a lot of effort is required for this endeavor and you could leisurely stroll the grounds and soak in the splendor. Ponder the fact that Shah Jahan built this shrine to his deceased wife Mumtaz Mahal. It’s so stunning it is surreal. People or not, it is worth seeing to ponder the work and detail of this place. There were plans by Jahan to build an identical Taj across the lawn, but in black marble – the Black Taj! He was overthrown by his son before the construction could begin. My head would explode if such a thing were to exist. The Taj itself is such a magnificent building – if word can even be used. If an identical one in black was parked right by it I couldn’t even fathom how incredible that would look. Damn you Aurangzeb (his son)!!

Enjoy your trip to the Taj. You will still get some cool shots.

*Oh, and organize this through a travel agency. You will get slaughtered if you try to navigate the Delhi rail stations if you’ve never been to India and don’t speak/read Hindi.

*PPS – Watch out for your guide’s hustle. He’ll take you to “authentic” marble shops where you’ll get the hard sell. Did you know the ACTUAL descendents of the craftsmen on the Taj work in THEIR shop??! What a coincidence, and I’m here talking to him. The salesman tells me since I’ve never been to India “the first time you are not a customer, you are my guest.” He then proceeds to sell me a $1200 USD marble slab that weighs about 200 pounds. “We ship by freight, you get in 12 weeks.” I ended up buying a smaller one because some of them were quite nice (and because they are very convincing salesman!). It’s just the first of many famous jewelry stores, restaurants, general stores, etc. that you will be steered toward unless you are firm up front that you aren’t interested.

At least my marble slab came from kinfolk of Taj Mahal laborers.