Dan's Adventure

Sitting in the rooftop restaurant of the Shanti Guest House in Agra with the Taj Mahal in view in front of me I eagerly await the sun to set and for the magic of the Taj Mahal to present itself. Its been raining all day long so the sky is already rather dark with clouds so I’m uncertain as to whether the famous colour changing of the Taj Mahal will be as evident on this evening. Time passes slowly but then suddenly the sky begins to turn a bright pink and the white marble of the Taj Mahal reflects it to turn a softer pink. As the sky deepens in colour, so does the Taj Mahal. From pink, to purple to dark blue, and finally it vanishes into the night sky half an hour after the colour changing process began. It really is quite spectacular. My camera wasn’t up to the job of capturing the magic though.

The following morning I rose from bed at 5.30am so that I could be ready at the gates with my ticket at 6am when they opened, all set to watch the change of colour as the sun rises. I set one foot outside of the hotel and turned back, the rain was even heavier than the previous day. The next day was a similar story so I again settled for the rooftop of the Shanti Guest House where the reverse colour change took place, with the Taj Mahal eventually appearing slightly yellow as the sun shone on it.

I took an auto rickshaw to the other side of the river so that I could get an unobstructed view from the rear of the Taj Mahal. The rickshaw driver stopped at the end of the road and told me I could walk down the side of the gardens to the river for free or pay to walk within the gardens. I chose the free option which led to the river bank. 120 rupees for the return journey was certainly worth it, there was no one else around, and I had a clear view of the Taj Mahal. It may still have been raining but this made up for it. I wish I had taken this trip at either dawn or dusk though as the view of the colour changing would have been even better from across the river with the Taj Mahal in full view.