The Chasing Iamb: 'Traveling armchairs dream of staying put'

'Traveling armchairs dream of staying put'

Posted by The Chasing Iamb at 12/31/2008

(image from here)

My former boss when asked for soundbytes about the Taj used to quote Sahir Ludhianvi. "Ek shehenshah ne daulat ka sahara lekar/

hum gareebon ke mohabbat ka udaya hai mazak," he would yell at unsuspecting young TV reporters.

Seeing the Taj is like meeting a celebrity. You feel like gushing about how unassuming it is. How beautiful. Telling people about your expectations and how they were met. And how a good wash may be in order.

Every moment is filled with great portent. Because this is the day you saw the Taj for the first time. And when you are 80 you may remember that on the day you saw the Taj for the first time you were in love or that you were cold and wishing you had packed a shawl or that you had had your passport stolen or that all you could think that it was bizarre that beef was sold outside the south gate and beer outside the west gate. Or that all the while you were looking at the Taj you had the Taj Mahal/Humayun's Tomb sequence from Jhoom Barabar Jhoom running in your head.

Or that you were almost 30 and were old enough to appreciate not being dead and young enough to think that the next time you saw the Taj you would be a very different, much better person. Perhaps as soon as 2009.