Agra - The City in Pictures

♫♫ Sau saal pehle mujhe tumse pyaar tha, Mujhe tumse pyaar tha. Aaj bhi hai, aur kal bhi rahega…♫♫ The Mohammad Rafi classic echoes in my mind every time I visit the beautiful city of Agra. A love so potent and a longing so pure, that it will resonate in the hearts of millions for eternity. Many a lovers’ inspiration, many a historians’ delight, many a poets’ muse and many a heartbrokens’ respite. But there is more to Agra than the Taj! Agra is dotted with some of the most significant monuments in the country. A heritage walk in this Mughal Capital is like turning the pages of history textbooks back in school. Fortunately this August brings us two long weekends, one of which I am going to dedicate to the City of Love. What about you? 

“The Taj Mahal rises above the banks of the river like a solitary tear suspended on the cheek of time.” -Rabindranath Tagore

Agra Fort

Where Aurangzeb imprisoned his father Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan is said to have gazed lovingly at his beloved wife’s mausoleum from the fort for the eight years he was jailed.

Fatehpur Sikri

Also called the City of Victiory, the land where Babar defeated Rana Sanga in an epic battle. The fort comprises of a series of palaces, mosques and public buildings. Chini ka Rauza, Itimad-ud-daula’s Tomb (also called Baby Taj), Sikandra and Mariyam’s Tomb are other mausoleums in the city that exemplify Mughal architecture.

Akbar’s Tomb- where one of the greatest emperors in the world lies buried

Jama Masjid

Adorned with exquisite inscriptions from the Holy Quran, inlaid geometric designs and beautifully coloured tiles, Jama Masjid was constructed in 1571 A.D. during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great.

Buland Darwaza

“The world is a Bridge, pass over it, but build no houses upon it. He who hopes for a day, may hope for eternity; but the World endures but an hour. Spend it in prayer for the rest is unseen.”—A Persian inscription on Buland Darwaza.

Mehtab Bagh

A cresent-shaped, grassy floodplain across the Yamuna River, Mehtab Bagh was identified as the ideal location for viewing the Taj by Shah Jahan. Mehtab Bagh means the “Moonlit Garden”

Enamoured and entranced, aren’t you? Wonder what it would be living amidst the testimonies of love, trust, agony, battles and myriad secrets that are buried inside the magnificent walls. Your stay in Agra cannot be ordinary thus. My personal favourites in Agra are Wyndham Grand and Howard Plaza when I’m feeling rich. Since that’s rarer than common, I prefer Hotel Crystal Inn, a comfortable property only 2 km from Taj Mahal that offers stunning panoramas of the Taj and the gardens around it. And when I see this mausoleum of love and longing from the hotel’s balcony, Neruda’s verses keep coming back to me… Tonight I can write the saddest lines. I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.  My sight searches for her as though to go to her. My heart looks for her, and she is not with me. Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer, and these the last verses that I write for her. Love is so short, forgetting is so long…