Taj Mahal—A tale of Yamuna

Judged particularly in an Indian perspective, a monument aged 350 years is only at its teens. And Youth does have its problems and its dreams too. For all, Taj Mahal represents India. For me, it is a great decoration of a greater river. Taj Mahal vibrates on a hot day when seen from the other side of Yamuna. Its image has a certain fragility, and particularly in moonlight it seems that the Taj Mahal might have been lost had the Yamuna ever changed its course. We decipher history through tides of change. The process of re-construction certainly involves an element of imagination. As far as Yamuna is concerned, only concrete facts remain, as everything stands chronicled either on pages or on canvas. Standing on Yamuna Bridge and scanning the river below I couldn’t make up for the 400-odd imaginary years, for reality now haven’t differed much from the days of Danielis, or from Sir Thomas Rows.