The late afternoon light in Agra, India, is a little strange, almost supernatural, when the subcontinental sun is on the wane. Its rays cast down through a rising haze of thousands of cooking fires that form a sort of fragrant fog over the city of millions of people. As I pass through the gates of this world-famous complex, everything around me is cast in amber.
But the first time I see that great monument—a mausoleum, of course—it’s unmistakable. The Taj Mahal stands directly ahead, its soaring domes and graceful minarets immediately recognizable. Together, they form one of those places that’s a totally ubiquitous sight throughout the world. But it’s somehow even more beautiful, extraordinary, and intimate here in person.
