The Taj.
A symbol of Love.
A symbol of India.
A symbol of India’s Traditions & Heritage.
A symbol India uses to invite the World to India.
The Taj.
A reality of filth.
A reality of depressing upkeep.
A reality of bad approach roads.
A reality of dysfunctional authorities.
A reality of anti-social elements’ haven.
Exactly. Surprising as it may sound, but the Taj Legacy is eroding. Real Fast. I had been to the Taj along with my friends from Australia recently. The whole mood of the drive from Delhi to Agra was spoilt on entering the City of Taj. Overall it was a very pleasing drive from Delhi to Agra on the quite well maintained highway. Apart from the frequently visible villagers who keep on spilling over to the road, the drive is quite comfortable.
But as soon as we enter the Agra perimeter, the highway starts giving way to a cramped up road with potholes, darkness and utter havoc. There is no sign of any directions to the Taj. The tourist has to ask bystanders for directions. There are no street lights and the general appearance is not of a World Heritage Site, but that of a badly planned town. And we are currently voting to pull Taj Mahal up into the top seven wonders of the world. We might get it through -- by sheer numbers of our exploding population --- but as the world may soon realize, it could be for all the wrong reasons!
The Taj Walk (nature walk or whatever they call it) is full of cheap stores offering cheap quality footwear at skyrocketing prices. There are replicas of Taj being sold. Over-persistent Tourist Guides surround you to the extent of terrorizing you. The security personnel are rude --- forget about the ’’symbol of Love’’. The rules ask you to leave your mobiles etc on the Main Gate. Cant they put up a hoarding in the parking (a good 1km away from the Main Gate) itself that mobile phones, batteries, etc. are not allowed inside?
Even the entry fees is a bit too discriminating. While the Indian nationals pay Rs 20, the foreigners are made to shell out close to Rs 550! Nonsense. And to say we are attracting foreign tourists here! Believe me, I actually heard foreigners saying this is close to racism / apartheid! Inside the main gate, there are photographers nagging you to buy from them your picture in different wierd poses. And once you enter the main complex, the Still Cameras are allowed, but the Video Cameras are not. Someone please tell me a logic behind that. Security is okay ... but then, are Still Cameras safe?
Reach the main building of the Taj and you are supposed to remove shoes. Very well. But then who takes care of your shoes? There is a shoerack that almost always overflows with shoes and the attendant is too busy to listen to you --- even if you pester hard for 10-15 minutes. He would rather coldly ask you to put your shoes in the park opposite to him. Well friends, we were four people and we did the same. Having been trapped by him, we removed our shoes in the park and stepped up to the Taj Mahal main building.
After spending good 2 hours absorbing the beauty of the marble wonder and listening to ’’various’’ stories of ’’various’’ tourist guides, we decided to return. Lo and behold! Two pairs of shoes were stolen!! Only two pairs remained -- those which were old shoes!! The two pairs stolen were brand new! We tried asking the shoe rack attendant, but in vain!
When we tried scanning the people around us, we realized that there were many like us who had their shoes stolen! All new. And all had been treated by the shoe rack attendant similarly. We talked to the security personnel but he in fact blamed us only for the ’’fault’’ of leaving our shoes in an unsafe area, rather than in the shoe rack. He said in the absence of a token, he could do nothing. With no trace of any help from anybody, we decided that the effort is futile and not worth it.
When we came out of the Taj Main Gate, we had shopkeepers telling us that it happens once almost every week at the Taj and the security personnel do not do anything about it. They even told us the shops where our shoes can be traced. But of course we did not dare to visit them --- one for the shortage of time and secondly for reasons of safety.
So friends, I hope this column does some good for you and for our country. We promote Taj as the best tourist destination in India, but we do nothing for making it one.
Can the civic authorities be shaken up to accept responsibility? Who is responsible for the upkeep of the approach roads, periphery, security, etc. (atleast near Taj, if not the ’entire city’ of Agra)? The UP government or the Union government? Be it any political party in government, the plight remains the same. I think we should rather advertise the Taj as not just the Taj but as ’’The Taj ... its beauty ... despite us Indians’’.
Visit the Taj ... it’s really worth it. But the experience before & after you see the Taj is ... terrible, to say the least. Authorities ... please wake up!