Mike Yardley: Tingle time at the Taj Mahal, Agra

Iconic. Few world landmarks exemplify the full meaning of that word quite like the Taj Mahal. I’ve just enjoyed freshly communing with the wondrous masterpiece in Agra, as part of a private tour of Classic India with Wendy Wu Tours. Four hours drive from New Delhi, Agra is rough and ready in places, much like the driving standards on India’s roads. As my delightful Wendy Wu Tours driver Mr Singh observed, “There are three golden rules when driving in India. You need a good horn, good brakes and good luck.”

Before savouring the gleaming Taj, my Wendy Wu Tours guide Nadeem led us on an enlightening tour around Agra Fort. En-route, we passed a decrepit sandstone building that Nadeem remarked had become nicknamed the “Monkey House” by locals. Apparently a vast tribe of 200 Rhesus macaques inhabit the crumbling building, running riot on the adjoining road when they head out to find food.

Agra Fort is a marvel, a mighty red sandstone fortress overlooking the Yamuna River. It was established by the Mughal emperor Akbar in the 16th century, who was a descendant of Genghis Khan. The sprawling fort served as a military base and a royal residence, as well as the seat of government when Agra was the capital of the Mughal Empire. The complex is a delight to explore, radiantly reflecting the architectural grandeur of the Mughal reign – a fusion of Persian and Indian design flourishes.

Highlights include the Pearl Mosque, constructed by Shah Jahan. This tranquil and perfectly proportioned structure is made entirely of white marble. The splendid Palace of Mirrors (Sheesh Mahal), had its walls and ceilings inlaid with thousands of small mirrors. The fort also served as a prison and Nadeem led us to gaze at where Shah Jahān sadly spent the last eight years of life, in his gilded cage.

Aurangzeb, his son and successor as emperor, incarcerated him there in 1658. At least Jahan could gaze across to his finest triumph, his sublime Taj Mahal, rising proudly on the horizon, around the river bend. Another headline sight at Agra Fort is the Tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah in Agra, India. Nicknamed the baby Taj, it’s considered a precursor to the Taj Mahal. It was built 30 years earlier, for the father of the Mughal Empress Nur Jahan.

The alarm clock was set for an early wake-up the following morning, to witness the Taj Mahal at sunrise. The last time I visited the Taj fourteen years ago, we timed it for sunset – but the crowd crush detracted from the experience. Wendy Wu Tours strongly recommended a sunrise visit – and they weren’t wrong. There were barely a hundred people on site for the dawn of a new day and the absence of crowds enhances the encounter immeasurably. (Nor will you battling extreme heat.)

After duly posing for photos on the marble bench immortalised by Princess Diana’s visit, it was positively soothing to size up this colossal marble mausoleum from every angle and vantage point, as a yolky sunrise stamped its presence on proceedings. I felt lost in awe-inspired reflection in the ornamental gardens. Built as a memorial by Shah Jahan for his third wife, who died giving birth to their 14th child, it is arguably the world’s greatest monument to love. The emperor was apparently so heartbroken by her death, his hair turned grey overnight. Construction of the monument began within 12 months, with the bulk of the building taking 8 years to complete. 20,000 people from India and Central Asia worked on the building, while specialists from Europe were brought in to produce the exquisite marble screens and inlay work. Much of the gold and precious stones were later looted by British soldiers.

Following his death, Shah Jahan was buried here, alongside his third wife. There are so many touches to his masterpiece to admire. Look closely and you’ll notice that the four soaring minarets are all subtly tilted away from the main building, so that they won’t fall on it, in the event of a major earthquake. I love how the building was purposefully positioned pointing north, so that it is bathed in maximum sunlight from dawn to dusk, heightening the creamy lustre of the marble. And nothing detracts in the background. Built on a raised platform with its back to the river, the backdrop is only sky – a masterstroke in design, which adds to its timeless enchantment.

It was striking how serious they are taking the threat of air pollution around the Taj mahal, with an enormous perimeter area, clamping down on vehicle use and the forced closure of factories in proximity to the monument. Previously, the Taj Mahal has been spruced up with an ancient face-pack recipe known as multani mitti. This blend of soil, cereal, milk and lime beautifies the skin. I must try it.

They’re very proud of all things Mughal in Agra so why not tuck into some Mughlai cuisine? This rich, meaty and aromatic culinary style blends Indian flavours with Persian, Turkish, and Central

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from News Talks at b O.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Travel correspondent is Mike Yardley, but he doesn't just love travel,
he loves Christmas. And Mike, my goodness, I've just seen
a photograph of your lound room and the tree is
well and truly up twin cale. It looks amazing. Livy
and I are very impressed, like really impressed. And what

(00:35):
a lound room you've got. You've got the presidential seal
in the so your lound room almost looks like a
New Zealand version of the of the Oval Office, but
with a giant Chstmas tree in it.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
I am a bit of an Americana tragic along with
being a Christmas tragic Jack. So yes, I spotted these
presidential floor ring so that I need one of those,
and it's actually quite cool.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Yeah, it looks amazing. So so in terms of Christmas,
do you have an exact date every year when you
put up your decorations.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Well, so I did what I did last year, and
being election day last Saturday, I thought, oh, I feel
nervous for the candidates and I had to do an erection.
So I started with the tree yeah, and now I've
got about ten days more of titillation to do.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, goodness, I'm glad you love it so much. I
mean this time next week will be two months on Christmas.
So there you go, crazy, We're going to race up
on all of us. Anyway, this morning we are focusing
on Agra and the taj Mahal, part of the Golden
Triangle in India. And would you consider Agar a pretty city?

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Jack, but
still strikes me as rough ready an absolute ramshackler of
a city. The thing, though, is it makes time at
the Tarj all the more spell binding because you think,
how can such an ugly city have such a masterpiece.

(01:59):
But as you drive out of New Delhi you do
notice a real slippitch in the standard of living on
the approach to Agra, and also a collapse in driving behavior.
My driver said to me, whenever I come close to Agra,
there are three golden rules when it comes to driving
in India. You need a good set of brakes, you

(02:23):
need a very good horn, and you need a lot
of good luck. And I think that's very true about Agra.
The other thing is they've got so many crumbling buildings.
We passed this derelict building downtown Agra that has been
abandoned and the locals call it the monkey house because
the building has been taken over by a vast tribe
of two hundred reesius muckacks. So when they venture out

(02:47):
to find a bit of food, they cause total traffic
mayhem on the adjoining road. Agra is a zoo.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah amazing, it's a yeah yeah and every seeds I suppose.
And apart from being home to a world icon, why
would you recommend anyone jaunt to Agra fort?

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, This mighty red sandstone fortress is a marvel. So
it overlooks the Yamuna River and it was established by
the Mogul emperor Akba, who was Genghis Khan's great grandson,
which I think is so amazing. But the complex is
such a delight to explore because it just gives you

(03:27):
a really good sense of the architectural grandeur of the
Mogul Rain. It's that fusion of Persian and Indian design,
just the most amazing blend. And there are some really
cool highlights, like stepping inside the prison, which is this
gilded cage which is where Shah Jahan of taj fame,

(03:50):
spent the last eight years of his life because he
was booted off the throne by his Ruh, the treacherous son.
But amazingly, that prison window offers one of the best
views of the taj Mahal, So at least Shah Jahan,
you know, spent the last eight years of his life
marveling over his masterpiece.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, when's the best time to admire the Tajh.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, good question, because a lot of the site selling
tours and agra finish off at the taj for sunset.
But you know, in a place like Ogre, you spend
all day out there feeling hot, sticky, and by the
time you get to the taj for sunset, your dog tired.
That's my experience from fourteen years ago, this time a

(04:32):
couple of weeks ago with Wendy Woo tours. We did
it at sunrise, and man, I don't think I've ever
felt so rewarded for setting the alarm clock so early.
There were only about fifty people on site Jack when
I arrived at the taj Mahal. So to have that
lack of crowd, lack of heat, no queueing to take

(04:55):
a seat on Diane's famous marble bench that is just priceless.
So I cannot recommend Sunrise enough.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
That's exactly what I did when I went to the
taj I got it.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
Really.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
They got up at Alpust four or five am and
was one of the very first people through the gate,
and I just remember it was such a good decision.
It was one of those places I always thought that,
you know, you travel sometimes and places don't quite live
up to the hype. But my experience, at least going
there in the morning, was that it very much did.
And how many people you built it?

Speaker 3 (05:25):
Twenty thousand laborers, but more impressibly a thousand elephants.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
Oh my gosh, that's slugging.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
Away for eight years. I know they did bring in
some specialists from Europe to produce the marble screens and
a lot of the inlay work. But like you sort
of discover in the wake of the British around the place,
the British soldiers actually looted a lot of the gold
and the precious stones from the taj Mahal during the

(05:52):
British rash. So many ingenious touches to its design, though,
Jack Is, I'm sure you appreciate it. I love how
those four ornamentalmen arets around the main building. They're all
subtly tilted away so that in the been to a
major quake, they won't fall on the main building. And
I love how the taj was purposefully positioned to point

(06:15):
north so that it's bathed in maximum sunlight from dawn
to dusk, which just heightens that creamy luster of the
marble and nothing detracts in the background. That's so etherial,
isn't it, Because that backdrop is only sky because it
was built on that raised platform. That really was a
master stroke and design.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, it is gorgeous. It's just an incredible building. Like
you said that, that kind of mogul architecture is something else.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
You know.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
One thing I remember from my time at the Tarjan.
It was a long time ago, fifteen years ago, but
I remember going up to the building itself and seeing
that someone had tagged it someone, Yeah, someone had with
a vivid. I've got photos of it. Someone had like
like tagged them. I was like, don't bring a vivid

(07:05):
to the like, are you serious. Yes, I'm sure they've
cleaned up, but yeah, I just remember. It's one of
those things that's always stuck with me, you know, is
that you can go anywhere in the world and there's
still going to be someone being a total you know what.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
Yeah, that is worse than that is worse than urinating
on the aldar of Saint Peter's Basilica. Yes, which occurd
a few days ages.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
I saw that.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yes, I mean both of them are up there, aren't
they dispas to do? But anyway, is the air pollution
still a big problem and a threat to the Tarj?

Speaker 3 (07:33):
Yeah, it seems to be this constant worry they have.
And I noticed that they have increased the perimeter area
around the taj from cars, and also they have forced
the closure of a lot of factories in proximity to
the monument. So yeah, it's a constant threat. I was
intrigued by that ancient face pack recipe they used to

(07:57):
spruce it up from time to time. I think they
call it moultani meti. So it's this blend of soil
and cereal and milk and lime, supposedly at beauty the skin.
It seems to work on the tar so I might
have to give it a go myself. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
Nice, What about local eats and agra? It's pretty meaty,
isn't it.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
Yeah, they're very proud of all things Mogul and Agra.
So a rich, meaty, aromatic cuisine awaits. If you're partial
to a really good corner or rogan josh, you will
be right at home. Think creamy, rich graviies and lots
of spices and almonds and cashews and yogurt. I actually

(08:35):
became quite partial to this ancient Mogul Empire dessert called
Shahi tukta, and I reckon you could make this at home.
Shahi tukta means royal bread, so it's sort of like
a bread pudding, and it's crisp fried bread slices soaked
and sugar syrup, and then they top it with this

(08:55):
creamy blend of milk and cornflower, spices and nuts. It's
really delicious, and actually I noticed a lot of people
were eating it for breakfast.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
Mah, does this sounds good? I'm into this.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
What's it called again, Shahi tukta?

Speaker 2 (09:09):
Shah he tukta? Yeah, okay, it sounds great, sounds really good.
Thank you. So you you've got one more little segment
right where we're going to discuss India.

Speaker 3 (09:19):
We'll do a bit of Rajasthan and a bit of
New Deli.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, thank you so much, Mike. It does sound amazing.
It makes me un for India, so I really appreciate
that all of Mike's tips for visiting Aga and the
taj Mahal will be up on the News Talks.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
He'd be website for more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame.
Listen live to News Talks he'd be from nine am Saturday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio