There is no way postcard snaps or even a glossy National Geographic special can prepare you for the simultaneous majesty and delicacy of the iconic Taj Mahal, a monument to love built by the Muslim Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz, who died giving birth to her 14th child in 1631.
On the other end of materials scale are the surprisingly beautiful “dung villages” we passed on our journey. Cow patties are dried, flattened and stored for fuel in these little huts that remarkably imprinted with these lovely decorative patterns.
Both the Taj, with its marble and semi-precious stones and years of labour, and the delicately-decorated dung huts attest to the human drive to create beauty, in whatever circumstances one finds oneself.
