Iconic buildings from around the world are always presented in photos taken from the exact same angle. Most people reading this blog have seen the Taj Mahal hundreds of times on TV, in magazines and around the internet, but the diversity of those views is severely lacking. Sometimes it takes seeing these wondrous places from a variety of angles to truly appreciate their magnificence and get beyond the two-dimensional “classic” image that we have burned into our brains.
Here is a different view of the Taj Mahal than we are all used to seeing. This angle gives you a taste for just how big the Taj Mahal really is.
I vividly remember riding the early morning train from Delhi to Agra on my way to see the Taj Mahal for the first time. Travel adrenaline pumped through my veins in anticipation of viewing the global icon with my own eyes. As excited as I was, I must admit that there was a part of me that was preparing to be completely disappointed. How could a single building be mentioned in the same sentence as the never ending Great Wall of China or the expansive Temples of Angkor Wat?
Fortunately when I arrived, I was anything but disappointed. The Taj Mahal smashed through my greatest expectations and sent chills down my spine. The symmetry! The marble glow! The scale! I have no doubt that when you see it with your own eyes you will be left pondering – “Has man ever built a more perfect building”?
There is something about the way this canoe rower is sitting at the very very back of his canoe that makes me think he must be in deep contemplation. Or perhaps it’s the extreme solitude that he seems to have found himself in despite the numerous animals surrounding him. Or perhaps it’s the way his chin sits upon his hand while he simply holds his oar with minimal movement.
Ironically, if this was taken from further away (or zoomed out), you would realize that he is rowing in the shadows of one of the World’s most hallmarked sites in the world, The Taj Mahal.
Perhaps it was my mood this morning after a red-eye flight to New York from San Francisco or something else, but this picture really spoke to me. There is something about this man on his canoe, all alone, yet on one of the world’s most famous river banks.
What do you think he is pondering?
The Taj Mahal is located in Northern India a short two-hour train ride outside of Delhi in the city of Agra. Almost everyone who travels to Agra to see the Taj Mahal will also spend a few hours exploring the nearby Agra Fort.
The Agra Fort is very impressive and in most cities around the world it would be the top attraction. Unfortunately for the Agra Fort, one-hundred years after its construction this little structure called the Taj Mahal was built a couple of miles down the road. While walking around the Agra Fort, both the tourists and the locals spend more time staring off in the distance at the Taj Mahal than actually exploring this ancient walled city.
While turning to glance back at the Taj Mahal myself, I saw this group of Indians doing the same.
