Muchas Bolas

Tuesday, 26 July 2011 0

Agra, India

Agra, India

Taj Mahal, July 2011

Rabindranath Tagore described it as 'a tear-drop on the cheek of eternity'. Rudyard Kipling as 'the embodiment of all things pure', while its creator, Emperor Shah Jahan, said it made 'the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes'.

The Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan as a memorial for his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. The death of Mumtaz left the emperor so heartbroken that his hair is said to have turned grey virtually overnight. Construction of the Taj began the same year and, although the main building is thought to have been built in eight years, the whole complex was not completed until 1653. Not long after it was finished Shah Jahan was overthrown by his son Aurangzeb and imprisoned in Agra Fort where, for the rest of his days, he could only gaze out at his creation through a window. Following his death in 1666, Shah Jahan was buried here alongside Mumtaz.

Jaipur, India

Jaipur, India

Pink City, July 2011

The old city is partially encircled by a crenellated wall punctuated by gates (pols) including the mayor gates of Chandpol, Ajmer and Sanganeri. It may not feel like it in today's chaotic mechanised traffic, but the Old City is a masterpiece of town planning. Wide avenues divide the city into neat rectangles, each one specialising in different crafts.

Jaipur's most distinctive landmark, the Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds) is a remarkable, five-storey, delicately honeycombed, pink sandstone structure. It was constructed in 1799 by Maharaja Sawaj Pratap Singh to enable ladies of the royal household to watch the life and processions of the city. It's an amazing example of Rajput artistry, and remains a great place for people-watching from behind the small shutters.

Hindustan-Pakistan Border

Attari/Wagah, India

India-Pakistan Border, July 2011

Every late afternoon, just before sunset, members of the Indian and Pakistani military meet at the border to engage in a 30-minute display of pure theatre. The flag-lowering, closing-of-the-border ceremony is a fusion of orderly colonial-style pomp, comical goose-stepping and, considering the two countries' rocky relationship, stunning demonstration of harmony. So popular is this event, that grandstands have been specially constructed to accommodate the patriotic throngs.

Amritsar, India

Amritsar, India

The Golden Temple, July 2011

Founded in 1577 by the fourth guru Ram Das, Amritsar is home to Sikhism's holiest shrine, the spectacular Golden Temple. During unrest in Punjab in the early 1980s, the Golden Temple was occupied by separatists seeking to create an independent Sikh homeland. They were flushed out by the army in 1984 in a controversial military action that damaged the temple and fuelled violent Sikh-Hindu clashes in Punjab and beyond that left thousands (predominantly Sikhs) dead.