Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Arrey huzoor... Wah Taj boliye!

There are some childhood dreams which are wacky. I had one such dream as a kid when I used to see the ad of a brand of tea which featured a tabla playing uncle with a weird hairstyle.

We used to get the same brand of tea at home and most of the times free gifts like sketch pens, crayons, funky pencils accompanied the pack of tea. The free gifts were of much more interest to me than the tea itself as well as the uncle playing tabla or the beautiful building featured in the ad & on the tea packet.

I came up with a logical deduction that the building is the home of the uncle who likes playing tabla and just like mummy he doesn't want kid like me to drink tea. So instead of scolding me he sends sketch pens, crayons etc as gifts. No wonder I soon developed a secret desire to meet this sweet uncle and so I decided when I grow up I will visit him at his home and thank him :)

It was only later when I grew up that I realised the uncle was none other than famous tabla player Ustad Zakir Hussain and his home was one of the seven wonders of the world "The Taj Mahal". Also the free gifts had soon stopped as the brand of tea we drank at home had been changed.

Anyways my fascination for the Taj grew stronger once I read the history associated with it and it became one of the must see places in life. 28th Dec was the day when I realised this long cherished dream on a visit to Mathura and Agra with fellow ManDevIans.

After the visit I strongly feel the beauty of Taj cannot be described in words as all the adjectives put together will not be able to do justice to it. I was left speechless when I got the first glimpse of it through the magnificent arched entrance. The hour and a half which I spent there will forever remain etched in my memory.

The fact that in fading light I couldnt appreciate the grandeur of the entire Taj complex and the finer details of Taj itself has strengthened my resolve to go back again and again to this temple of love.

Perhaps on one of the visits I will also meet the tabla playing uncle with the weird hairstyle. :)

Until then enjoy the pics of the visit to Taj and Mathura with my friends at MDI.

P.S: Click here for the Facebook album link or check the slide show embedded here...


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