Taj Mahal on Kojaagiri
A romantic date under the full moonlight
There's a story my grandmother loves to tell, of the Taj Mahal and the full moon night. It goes like this - when my grandparents were newly married and took a trip to Delhi to visit my grandmother's eldest sister. It was the epoch of the 1950s when picnics were fun and a usual thing. Also, on the occasion of Kojaagiri, a tradition of drinking spiced hot milk at midnight is followed by Hindus. Kojaagiri Pournima or Sharad Pournima is a harvest festival celebrated on a full moon day. So, they planned to picnic their dinner followed by a glass of spiced hot milk at the most popular place near Delhi, the Taj Mahal! After all the preparation, the four of them - my grandmother, my grandfather, my grandmother's sister, and her husband reached Agra by evening, making their way straight ahead to the Taj Mahal for a night picnic. If you've been to the Taj Mahal, you must be aware of the high security and mandatory checking where the number of barricades put up can create a small replica of the Taj itself. Guess what! None of this was present in the 1950s. The gates were open for the crowd to come and go whenever they want, spend as much time they wanted, and the Taj Mahal would happily oblige with the attention it got. Now, imagine having dinner at the monument of eternal love with the love of your life could be considered the epitome of romance, right? Yes, I wished to have born in the 50s every time I heard the beautiful description of the breathtaking view of the Taj Mahal glistening under the moonlight. If only I knew that my wish was going to come true!
In 2017, I happened to plan a spontaneous trip with my parents to the capital city. Organized in a sprinkle of time before the day of departure, our itinerary covered Delhi, Agra, and Fatehpur Sikri. We were in Delhi and were to leave for Agra the next day when I remembered the story my grandmother told me. It took us a few phone calls and an internet search to find out that the full moon night was on the day we were to visit the Taj Mahal, and there were only three seats available! The situation didn't seem anything lesser than a miracle to us, and we said yes in the first breath. While in the car on our way to Agra, I was beginning to realize that soon I will witness what my grandmother and also what Shah Jehan experienced. The famous folklore goes that Shah Jehan would love to spend his nights on the full moon there, to admire the majestic monument that would light up so remarkably under the moonlight that everything would turn romantic fluorescent.
It was past 4 in the evening we entered through the main entrance of the Taj Mahal. Thank you weekend, the crowd was nearly equal to the population of Agra itself. As we stepped in the middle of the tall arched gate, my eyes met the most remarkable sight I had ever seen. The mighty white marble complex was dimly scintillating under the setting sun and clear evening sky. The title of the 'Symbol of Love' bestowed upon it felt justified. There was a feeling of peace, contentment, and tranquility beneath the walls that spoke of love, respect, honor, and peace. We walked along the path towards the Taj Mahal. Even though the extravagant population present to admire this beauty, including us, the Taj managed to stand out effortlessly from the chaos that it wasn't difficult not to praise it as I looked on, making the most of every minute I had. We didn't realize when 40 minutes had passed. It was time to take its leave only to return soon, at almost the middle of the night.
We were to report at 10:30 in the night as our slot was at 11 pm. The excitement made us reach way earlier by 10:15 pm. As we drove from the hotel to the reporting area, I checked up on the sky. Clouds were hovering around the full moon who were trying their best to be bright and shining for us. Tough-luck. We left all the hopes of hope itself and to clear out the sky at least for half an hour during our slot. With everything Ram bharose, we carried out the formalities and began to wait, quite impatiently, for the time to strike 10:50 pm, and we would soon be inside the bus that would take us till the entry gate. That night, time took its own time, no surprise there, so much that the hour hand and the minute hand felt like magnets repelling from each other. Finally, God had mercy on us, and the clock struck 10:50. We were inside the bus, who drove through the place like a mouse sneaking out at night for nocturnal adventures. There were not more than 10-15 people in every slot that made the trip even more fun and personal. We reached the entry gate, where we were to wait for another few minutes as the sloth before us was still inside, and we had to wait for them to leave first. They took their time and a little bit of 5 minutes from ours when we finally saw them walk out of the entrance gate, and now it was our turn!
As I crossed the same gate I had been in the evening and had seen the marble charmer, everything felt familiar, and yet nothing was the same anymore. The Taj I saw under the evening sky, bright and full of love, was now serenely florescent resonating deep passion under the soothing night sky, just like the two sides of the same coin. The clouds were being a typical villain of a love story, causing a nuisance by hiding the moon in between. But being in that moment, watching this romantic scene with my own eyes was making up for everything else, even the clouds. In those 30 minutes, there were only two people present, the Taj Mahal and me.
Again, when you don't want it, the time flies faster than an airplane. Our minutes were up, and it was time to say Goodbye with a hope to be back again. Giving a heartfelt alvida, we were back on the bus to the parking lot and soon in the car on our way to our hotel, taking away with me the memory of my most beautiful date with the Taj Mahal.
