At the Taj Mahal, the inscriptions were verses from the Qur'an and the marble stones were adorned with agate and ruby. The English have taken many of them, and only a few remain. There aren't many remarkable artefacts, but they hype it up to attract tourists.
At six in the morning we set off by car for the city of Agra; the two-hundred-kilometre journey, partly on motorway and partly on a simple tarmac road, was completely lush and resembled Mazandaran, with rice and sugarcane fields. Some people also arrived by aeroplane. We had breakfast at the hotel and went to see the magnificent Taj Mahal mausoleum, which was built by Emperor Shah Jahan for his queen with the help of Chinese, Turkish, Iranian and other architects, and is one of the strange buildings of that era. A remarkable and interesting fortress called Redford also remains from them on the banks of the Yamuna River. In the afternoon, we returned to Delhi.
At the Taj Mahal, the inscriptions were from the Quran and the marble was adorned with agate and ruby. The British took many of them, and only a few remain. It doesn't have many strange features, but they hype it up to attract tourists.
In the fort, they showed us a large courtyard surrounded by some four hundred rooms, saying that one of Akbar the Great's wives had lived in each of them. It was said that Hindus detest the memories of the Persian monarchs, which were accompanied by acts of force. Beside the Taj Mahal is the Yamuna River, which at Allahabad joins the sacred Ganges. After flowing for two thousand kilometres and irrigating this vast tract of land in West Bengal, it empties into the Indian Ocean.
The pilots had left the airport without permission to see the Taj Mahal, leaving us waiting at the airbase for an hour. The power also went out, and the intense heat with the coolers switched off made things difficult for the delegation. It was agreed that the cause of the disruption would be punished. The pilots said they were unaware of the schedule, but it later emerged that they had the programme booklet and had simply been negligent.
At three o'clock, I met with Mr Rao, the Foreign Minister, and didn't manage to have lunch. Afterwards, we had a meeting with the President of India—who is a Sikh—and the discussions were mostly ethical and about the war. Then, the second meeting with Mrs Gandhi took place at her home, which was a successful meeting.
Today India officially announced that it is willing to host the Non-Aligned Conference, and this was a defeat for Iraq and a victory for us, demonstrating the impact of our trip. My speech last night at the Speaker's dinner put them on the defensive regarding conservatism in international affairs, and today Mrs Gandhi said that it was because of India's problems. The minutes of all meetings are being recorded in the travel file.
Take less than a minute, register and share your opinion under this post.
Insulting or inciting messages will be deleted.
Sign Up