I have been living in Delhi for a long time but never really gone to see Taj Mahal at Agra which is one of the wonders of the world. Last weekend, I had planned a trip for Agra. So I started to try to figure out the best way to reach Agra.

I know that there are trains that run from Delhi and back and Shatabdi Express is one of best trains that takes approximately 3 hours each way. However, I was thinking that perhaps a private taxi or by own car may be better option as we won’t be bound by the train schedule and we’ll have a reliable mode of transportation while in Agra. My wife and I finally decided to go there by our own car because it’s been quite a long time I did not take a long drive for pleasure.

However, I have heard that road from Delhi to Agra by car is also very pleasant. One of my friends suggested a trick – to leave early by 5:00 am and that way you can be back home by 8 pm. We decided to go early to bed and that night, just after we had our dinner, I knocked out of bed.

One way was about 4 hrs. The only glitch we ran into was, when we were returning to Delhi, there was a overloaded bus stucked into a cantilever bridge in Agra city and I was just behind the bus, that lost us about half an hour. The roads were not a problem at all.

My wife was so enthralled by view of greens and sometimes she spot forts and just kept on snapping pictures. We both were very excited to see Taj Mahal. I felt so excited at that moment since I only see Taj Mahal in books, TV and internet. My first thought was, this is going to be real great seeing one of the wonders on the world, once in a lifetime experience. At 10 am, I reached and parked my car in parking area. The gates are about a 5 minute walk from the actual entrance to the Taj. There are cycle-rickshaws available, but we decided to walk.

Only drinking water is allowed to bring inside Taj Mahal because of possible garbage. They are also afraid of corrosion on the marble from the soft-drinks, etc. The guards check each one by one before you enter the place. There are many hawkers standing outside Taj Mahal. They make a sport of fooling tourists, and they brag about it to each other afterwards.

Long queue just to get inside and the security was tight, but that’s good at least to keep the place safe and clean. I was a bit irritated by the idea of waiting in the long line. The queue was quite long for tickets that’s why I asked my wife to take two tickets as the queue for women was separate and shorter than men queue. Separate queue lines were for men and women to enter in Taj Mahal. That’s why my wife and I were standing in two separate queue lines. When I asked my wife… please give me my ticket then she told me the ticket guy had given me single ticket only for both. When we reached at entrance gate as we showed the ticket to security people and they said this ticket is only for one person – I shocked to hear this thing and became angry on my wife. But she said calmly – while buying the ticket I had asked the ticket guy to give ticket for two persons but ticket guy said to me, it’s for two persons. The queue was so long and weather was so hot she didn’t check the ticket properly and that’s why it happened.

Finally somehow my wife convinced the securities people and we entered into Taj Mahal. Best part was, my annoyance vanished as soon as I set my eyes on the Taj. I was like “WOW”. Breathtaking, marvelous, wonderful, amazing! I will run out of words to describe what I’m seeing. It was just so overwhelming. A real epitome of love and romance leaves one mesmerized. The essential focus of the compound is the mausoleum; this large, white marble structure stands on a square base and consists of a proportioned building with an arch-shaped doorway topped by a large ground and finial. It was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan for his most beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. I was so fascinated with the place that we didn’t even notice the time. It was almost 2 pm. I’m still mesmerized with the experience when we were getting out of the place and I was so happy to see such a beautiful structure and for sure memories of the Taj will last in my mind until the day I die.

Around 2 pm, we left for Delhi and after driving continuously 2 hours I stopped my car at one of dhabas on the highway and told my wife – today we should eat dhaba food and she agreed on this. We ordered some food and had tea also though we were carrying enough snacks and foods with us. The food was nice. About 7 pm we entered in Delhi and reached home about 8 pm.

The Taj was marvelous, wonderful and amazing….our tiredness gone and we fell asleep immediately. It was really wonderful trip we had never before.

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