Until Tajmahal do us part!!!

One fine December morning of 2007, when the weather was just perfect, we decided to go on a one day trip to the Taj Mahal in Agra. It’s hardly a four hour drive from Gurgaon, where we used to live then. It had been my dream ever since marriage to watch the Taj in its entire splendor in the company of my very own prince charming!! So prince charming (read Faiz) took me for this memorable long drive on his modern day chariot (read car) on a perfect morning with the most beautiful skies and the most lovely weather…..to add icing to the cake, we were accompanied by a few very close friends……Kashan with his new bride Saima, Tazim bhai with his wife Shadab and Danish (yet in search for a match). We were thoroughly enjoying our journey and teasing Danish for having the courage to visit the Taj without a partner. The excitement to reach the destination seemed to be rising as we were nearing Agra…….Once there, we could hardly wait to set our eyes on this epitome of romance!!

I had visited the Taj earlier with my parents when I was a kid….but it was the first visit for the rest of us. So, everyone waited with bated breath at the gate to enter the complex. Meanwhile, Faiz n Kashan went to get the entry tickets for all of us. The area outside was fully packed with an eager crowd. It seemed like an extra ordinary day with such a huge turn up. Soon, Faiz n Kashan returned with a long face informing us that the ticket windows had been closed for the time being and wud be opened only at 4 pm. It was hardly noon then. Apparently, some foreign VIP was on a visit to the Taj that doomed day n hence the premises had been sealed for the common man for security reasons. :-( …..Mr. VIP wud leave only after 4 pm and then the lesser mortals wud get the tickets…….for the first time in my life I cudn’t access my own cultural heritage for the sake of a firangi!!!! It was absolutely disgusting…..coming all the way from gurgaon only to have a glimpse of our dream monument and being held at its gate for hours just waiting for the entry….standing in the long queue, hoping that Mr. VIP wud leave soon.

After four long hours at the gate, getting pushed and shoved several times by the other anxious visitors in queue, the crowd had turned into a mob anxious to break into the gates of the Taj…..My fervor had died down by now and I was getting nervous with the thought of getting caught in a stampede once the gate opened. By now, we were in the middle of a huge mob, and returning back was almost impossible, the only thing we cud do was get pushed towards the entrance by the wave of hundreds of visitors. Most of them were like us, coming from far off places for a one day trip, hoping to see the Taj and return by evening. So no one was ready to leave without catching a glimpse. Me, Saima and Shadab were holding hands while following the queue for ladies (it hardly mattered which queue it was, coz all the gentlemen had become ungentle by now and all the ladies were fuming). The guys were standing some distance away from us….caught amidst the crowd. I was wishing this nightmare wud end soon and I wanted to disappear from the scene. Finally, the gate opened at 5 pm, and the crowd (it wud be unfair to call it a queue anymore…coz it was no more one) started moving. And then, the awful moment arrived, when we entered the complex…I was waiting for Faiz to come in, so that we cud set our eyes together on this dream wonder……but to my shock just when Faiz was about to enter, the Guards closed the doors announcing "house full"!!!!!!!!! It was a very very filmi situation, me on one side of the gate, Faiz on the other and I cud see the gigantic gate being closed between the two of us..... desperately looking at each other not knowing wat to do….i went numb for a moment…..it was like living the scene from the climax of the film “Devdas”….A huge gate closes between Paro and Devdas symbolizing their separation forever……I cud not believe it!!!!!!!!! I turned pale, then suddenly Saima held my hand assuring that they were all there by my side n it was only for a while that Faiz was not with us n that we wud meet him soon on the other side of the exit gate…. This one dreadful moment made me understand wat Faiz meant to me…and God forbid...........wat wud happen if we were to be separated ever in our lives??? My heart sank and tears welled up in my eyes…………….I started cursing the Tajmahal and Shahjahan for this moment…after all, wat kind of symbol of love was this that brought such a terrible moment in my life and separated me from my husband?!!! I must have been the most disgusted and heart broken visitor that day…n watching Taj without Faiz was a very painful experience. I cud understand now why Princess Diana wept when she saw this monument without Charles and how she must have felt. By now it had become a torture to stay inside; the presence of Taj and absence of Faiz was almost killing!!

All of us took a hasty walk around the monument, I had never ever looked at any historical place in such disgust as I was today…I felt as if each shining stone studded in Taj was making fun of my situation…..I cudn’t bear it any more….and was dying to leave the place at the earliest. The others obliged to my will to proceed towards the exit after spending the longest 30 minutes of my life. The moment I saw Faiz standing at the gate my face lit up a li’l bit but the signs of the painful event stayed. We returned back with a heavy heart and this trip which had started as one of the most beautiful journeys of my life had ended in a bad shape…Alas! We had this dramatic story to tell our grand children ……"Until Taj did us part"!!!!