Let me be a tourist for a moment, because that is what I have been for the past two weeks…

      The Taj Mahal is extraordinary.  Yesterday we went to the "baby Taj," a tomb/memorial for the in-laws of Jahangir (sp?), built before the Taj but ancitipcating some of the design elements of the Taj.  But today we saw the real deal.  The scale of the thing is what is most awe-inspiring.  The balance, the delicacy, the workmanship.  Truly extraordinary in every way. 

      Among the most ingenious elements are the four minarets that frame the central domed masoleum.  They are pitched ever so slightly outward, so that when seen from a distance they do not appear to bend inwards, like the parallel lines of a railway track, but remain, to the eye, perfectly straight.   Also, the absence of any trees or buildings behind the massive Taj makes it seem as if it is suspended in air.  The enormous structure floats there, the hazy blue sky behind it, weightless and fragile….

      This afternoon we are going to see the Agra Fort, a reminder that the Mughal power that made the Taj possible ultimately rested, as does all political power, on military force and the extraction of resources from society (just thought I would throw in a bit of political realism there)….