A trip to India

I don't remember when I learned about the Taj Mahal, but I remember I was moved by its beautiful love story. Even Tagore said that the Taj Mahal was "a tear on the eternal cheek". No matter how beautiful the building is, first of all, its story is beautiful enough to attract people-what kind of princess can win such love from a king?

Before leaving India, we plan to buy train tickets from New Delhi to Agra online, because the Taj Mahal is in Agra, which is 0/.5 hours' drive (express train) from New Delhi/Kloc-0.

Agra is the imperial capital of Mughal dynasty in India. Because the website needs to register the local telephone number in India, we can't buy it online. Until we arrived in India, because time was tight, we couldn't let our local friends buy it. Therefore, the itinerary of the Taj Mahal has been pending.

After visiting the sunrise hall of the Baha 'i Mausoleum in New Delhi, I was greatly satisfied. I told my husband that it didn't matter whether the Taj Mahal went or not because I couldn't buy a train ticket. At that time, I thought my trip to India could come to a perfect end.

Later, I got my wish. I won't know until I go. If I end up like that, it will be a great pity for my trip to India.

The Taj Mahal is really "a tear on the cheek of eternity".

The Taj Mahal I used to know is just the tip of the iceberg, and the love legend is only a part of this building. When I witnessed it with my own eyes, I realized that the beauty of its architecture itself can completely surpass its love story, because the person who personally built this immortal work is not a king, he is only a subscriber and funder, and architects and craftsmen are truly worthy of praise.

According to legend, Princess Ji Man Banu has peerless beauty and was born into a noble family. Her aunt is another emperor's beloved princess. Her family can be traced back to16th century and moved from Persia to Agra, India. She/Kloc-married Shah Jahan at the age of 0/9 and gave birth to a child almost every year. When she gave birth to 14, she died in childbirth at the age of 39. King Shah Jahan was heartbroken and ordered a mausoleum to be built for this beloved princess. The Taj Mahal is the tomb of Ji Man Banu. What does it mean? Named after the court crown. Taj Mahal? Its Persian Taj means "crown", and Mahal is part of the name of concubine Mumtaz Mahal.

Why did the king of India name the tomb of a concubine in Persian?

This is a period of history.

Everyone knows Genghis Khan, right? In A.D. 12 18, Genghis Khan began the Western Expedition, conquered the Persian Empire at that time, and ruled the whole Central Asia and West Asia. Because Mongolians are mainly nomadic people, they can't live in a fixed area for a long time, and their culture can't be deeply systematized. In addition, nomadic culture was quickly assimilated by Persian culture at that time. At that time, there appeared a collective name of a nation called Turkic-Mongolia, that is, a nomadic people in Central Asia influenced by Turkic culture under the rule of the Mongolian Empire.

What is "Turkic"?

It is the collective name of the nationalities active in the Mongolian Plateau and Central Asia in history, and it is also an important nomadic nationality in the grassland areas of northwest and north China after Xiongnu, Xianbei and Rouran. Some of them have their own national characteristics as Turks, and some people have paternal ancestors from Mongolian tribes or admit that they are Mongolians, such as Timur and babur.

Shah Jahan, the king who built the Taj Mahal, lived in the Mughal Empire, a feudal autocratic dynasty established by babur, a descendant of Timur. At the peak of the empire, the territory covered almost the whole South Asian subcontinent and Afghanistan. The superstructure of Mughal Empire is Islam, and Persian is the language of court, public affairs, diplomacy, literature and high society.

So, if you go to india tourism now, you will find that Hindi is mixed with Persian, and the Taj Mahal also follows the style of Islamic mosque. In today's Iran, we can also find clues left by Mongolian rule in the families of ordinary people. My husband's house is one of them.

Five years ago, Mr. Wang's stepmother died and he went back to Iran to deal with the aftermath. There are still many relics of his stepmother at home, such as some porcelain. I said, what can I bring back to China? He brought back some porcelain vases. I was surprised to see the picture above and said, "Isn't this the face of China people? Is this imported goods that China exported to Iran and her mother-in-law bought? "

Mr. Wang said: "No, Mongolia ruled Iran for a period of time, leaving some traces, and Mongolian figures will appear on some handicrafts. You see that they look like Central Plains people, but they are actually Mongolians. "

Sometimes I find it interesting to marry a foreigner. You will inadvertently know a little historical story, or have a little cultural collision, and then inspire you to read more history.

Because Persian language, architecture and handicrafts were widely used in India at that time, King Shah Jahan invited an architect from Sarazzi, Persia to build this mausoleum for his beloved princess.

The Taj Mahal is made of white marble. When you enter from the city gate, it is embedded in the view of the city gate. As you can imagine, the king got off his horse or carriage and walked into the city gate. In that dark place, he first eased the bumps in the distance and stood here for a while. Seen from a distance, the white of the Taj Mahal is in sharp contrast with the darkness of the city gate. Its whiteness, much like the legendary skin of Ji Manbanu, radiates dazzling light, leading this husband to go, really like an elegant concubine waiting for him.

She is so subtle, elegant, smart and fresh without losing the dignity of the court. At that time, in front of the king, it was not the building, but the beautiful image of Princess Ai, which was the legacy of her soul. ......

Walking out of the city gate, everything began to be suddenly enlightened. The construction of neat flower beds and green plants has eased the hardships of queuing for tickets, queuing for security inspection and queuing for entering the city. Just like the king at that time, he came from the palace, and so on. Some beauty is worth making efforts.

Walk slowly along the aisle to this "peerless woman", and her outline becomes clearer and clearer, so that you can see the details of the Taj Mahal (crown), which is so noble. Her light is getting stronger and stronger, and she can hardly open her eyes. Noble things can never be easily obtained. Only by bypassing the fences on both sides can you really set foot on her territory.

If you look carefully, in fact, marble is not all white, and some are dull. Why is it so white and dazzling in the sun? This shows how excellent the quality of this stone is. After 365 years of wind and rain, it is still so smooth.

The pattern at the entrance is the same as that in the Persian palace, and it is a rose edge. The most exquisite skill is Arabic calligraphy at the door.

According to the law of vision, a rectangular door frame stands up, and the more the naked eye looks up, the more blurred the object becomes. In order to make the visual effect of words uniform, craftsmen measure the size, and the calligraphy fonts you see are uniform in any area. In fact, the font size at the top and bottom is different. Then, the craftsman must be very precise when calculating the size to achieve this visual effect. In addition, these calligraphy are not painted, but inlaid with marble of different colors. As a layman, I think there are at least two extreme techniques: one is to carve calligraphy grooves on white marble; Second, use different marbles to carve the three-dimensional calligraphy letters embedded in the grooves. In addition, Arabic calligraphy pays attention to neatness and agility, and the craftsmanship is very wonderful.

The Taj Mahal can have amazing effects, not only because of its pattern and overall style (halal style), but also because its length, width and height all follow one size: 55 meters. This is a completely symmetrical cube, so it will make people feel extremely calm and firm visually. The towers at the four corners also form a balance, which makes the whole building more atmospheric. It has always been a treasure in the architectural world, and countless architects have come to appreciate and learn this wonderful architectural way.

In such a huge building, only Effie's body was put in front, and then the king died and was buried with her. It is said that in the middle of the coffin, the fence beside it was covered with all kinds of gems, and then the British colonists plundered them all. There are no gems around the coffin now. It is conceivable that the coffin inlaid with precious stones is so magnificent. The beloved princess has passed away, and the king can only express his love for her in material form. And this seems to be the way for all kings-those who are arrogant in the world-to remember and miss a person's body, or their own body. And their hearts are so powerless-even if there are more than ten thousand people, they are only earthly creations after all, and they know very well that their wealth, land and people cannot be taken away, and they must embark on another journey alone. And in another journey, who can have the confidence to continue to be king?

They don't know that they are kings, perhaps because another "king" (God) gave them this honor, but some people ignored the existence of this other "king". Perhaps because of this, many emperors and generals are afraid. They can call the shots and do whatever they want on earth, but there is one thing they seem untouchable, and that is death.

They are afraid of their own death and the loss of their country, so there are people like Qin Shihuang who pursue immortality and fantasize that they can move their country to the Yin Dynasty. It seems ridiculous now, but these fears and nostalgia for the world have inspired some people's talents (not the emperor himself, of course, but forced craftsmen). They may not know that the crystallization produced only to obey the orders of an emperor at that time will be worshipped and studied by the world in the future hundreds of thousands of years later. So I said, the beauty of the Taj Mahal, we should not praise the king himself, but the craftsmen.

Coming out of the mausoleum and sitting on the platform, a tour guide is explaining to the tourists. He pointed to a patterned pillar and said, Look, this pillar has only three sides. A little higher, you will see six faces, and then there will be twelve faces. We also look in his direction, as we said, the structure of this geometric figure will give people an illusion.

In front of all the world heritage sites, you will see a very interesting phenomenon. There will always be people (mostly tour guides) telling stories at that time, and if there are stories that are different from others, everyone will listen to them with relish. As future generations, we will not prove the truth of these stories, but will have a deeper connection with every building and every object because of these short stories.

In the final analysis, these are all things created by people; After all, we all think of the creators behind them because of these works. What about works like "People"? If everyone has such exquisite skills and wisdom to create so many works, how smart the creators behind them should be!

Come out from the other side of the Taj Mahal and start walking to the next scenic spot. Looking back, the Taj Mahal is more fresh and refined against the backdrop of big trees, and people can't help but want to take a step and stop for her. At that time, the king might feel the same way every time he left, right?

The next scenic spot we went to didn't know it was closely related to the Taj Mahal. I can always taste these unexpected surprises without doing my homework.

After leaving the Taj Mahal, we went to Hongbao, commonly known as "Delhi Hongbao".

The palace of Shah Jahan, King of the Red Fort in Delhi, faces the Taj Mahal from a distance. It is said that if the king doesn't go to the Taj Mahal, he will look at the tomb of the distant concubine from the tower every day. I also heard that he is too old to get out of bed and can only enjoy the Taj Mahal refracted by gems. Whether the legend is true or not, this heart is really touching.

As the name implies, red castles are all red. It was built earlier than the Taj Mahal and was the palace of an early king. Later, King Shah Jahan inherited this residence. Because it was built in Agra near Jaipur, which is rich in red stone, the whole palace was built with this red stone.

Although Ji Man Banu gave birth to 14 children, only 6 survived and the others died. Four of the six surviving children are princes and two are princesses. Later, the youngest prince killed all his brothers for the throne and put his father under house arrest. Because the king is under house arrest, he can only see the Taj Mahal on the tower, and because he has lost his freedom, he can't go to the mosque to pray. There is also a small mosque specially built for him in the red fort, which can be said to be a castle in the castle.

The little prince has a fierce heart. One of the princesses fell in love with a non-royal, and he threw the princess directly from the wall. There is a room on the Red Castle that is the princess's grave.

In fact, King Shah Jahan's life in his later years was not satisfactory. On the one hand, the people were very dissatisfied because they squandered the state treasury, and everyone ousted him. On the other hand, he was placed under house arrest by his youngest son. But in the end, he got his wish. After his death, he was buried next to Ji Man Ba, enjoying the Taj Mahal he ordered to build. It is said that he once planned to build a tomb for himself. The tomb was black, one black and one white, next to the Taj Mahal. Think about it, a mausoleum with a black body will have another aesthetic feeling, but this wish has not come true in the end. However, being buried with your beloved princess is totally one thing.

Agra used to be the imperial capital, so there are many scenic spots there. Because of the time, we only visited two places, which was very satisfying. Perhaps because of the beauty of the Taj Mahal, all the difficulties I encountered on my return trip felt like an unexpected gift.

This goes back to how we got the train ticket and arrived as scheduled.

After 0/3 days in India/KLOC-,we got on the train in India for the first time. Maybe everyone is like me. The Indian train gives us the feeling of being crowded-climbing on the roof, hanging from the window, and people everywhere. This should be the most classic picture of India we have ever come into contact with.

After asking the hotel staff to help us buy tickets online failed, we got up early and went to the scene to buy tickets with the psychology of how crowded the train station was. Arrived at the train station, unexpectedly, but it was early. Not only is there no sea of people at the ticket office, there are not even a few people, but there is also a foreigner window for foreigners to buy tickets. We quickly bought an express train to Agra, and the fare was RMB per person in 60 yuan.

Compared with our railway station, the railway station in India is very shabby, but the environment inside the train is still very good, with air conditioning and comfort. I can't help but sigh: "Who said that trains in India are terrible? This is not very good! "

Who knows, the return trip is completely different.

Indian train tickets can't be bought at the train station on the way. When you get there, you can only buy tickets from that station. When we arrive in Agra, the first thing to do is to buy a round-trip ticket. Because it is a popular tourist city, even if it is early, the return express tickets are sold out, only the local train lasts for 3 hours. At this time, there are two kinds of tickets for the local train: air-conditioned tickets and non-air-conditioned tickets. 75 yuan per person with air conditioning, and 5 yuan per person without air conditioning/kloc-0. My husband asked me, "Which one do you choose?"

At this time, I began to play the virtue of thrift again. Break your fingers and calculate, if you choose air conditioning, two people need 150 yuan, and non-air conditioning only needs 30 yuan, with a difference of 120 yuan!

"Not air conditioning!" I am firm.

"Do you want to know? There is no air conditioning ... it may be hot. " Mr. Wang cast a suspicious look.

"When I came, the air conditioner was very cold, and the temperature was just right without air conditioning. At night, it is windy when I drive. " I said it again.

"Do you really want to know? Can you stand it? " Sir, keep testing me.

"Or ... to the air conditioner? What do you say? " I was a little shaken and habitually kicked the ball back to him.

"Otherwise ... you experience it. Then it will be non-air-conditioned. Don't regret. "

"good!" I'm firm again. Later, I regretted my firmness. )

After buying the ticket, I met the Afghan father and son sitting next to me when I came. They also chose non-air-conditioned tickets, which increased my confidence in non-air-conditioned cars.

Maybe I haven't experienced the experience of squeezing green leather trains in the morning rush hour in Spring Festival travel rush since I was a child, and my imagination of Indian non-air-conditioned carriages is simply naive.

Return trip.

Waiting for our train on the platform, the loud ringing, coupled with the friction between the train and the tracks, is really a bit of a catch-up in the 80 s in the movie. People are carrying luggage and waiting for the moment when the car door opens. From time to time, vendors passing by are shouting things I don't understand. I don't know why, the railway station always gives me a sadness when I leave. Flying is also from one place to another, and the airport doesn't feel like a railway station.

The railway station is a place of flesh and blood. Especially in India.

The door opened and someone got on from the last stop. As soon as they stepped into the carriage, they were about to collapse.

Smell, a pungent and unpleasant smell of urine. I seem to have returned to the 1980s in the movie screen, a legendary green leather train that I have never experienced in 30 years. Now I'm going through it myself. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the furnishings in the toilet door through the gap-rusty unknown objects, khaki unknown objects, pungent urine smell, mixed with various body odors, and spread to the whole carriage from there. I quickly withdrew my eyes and told myself not to look, smell or think about the photo. At this time, the husband's voice sounded: "No, I'm going to throw up."

"Don't you live in India? I haven't vomited when I first saw it. " I am calm.

"China is too clean, come back not used to it. Oh, no, I want to throw up. "

I gave him a mask and said, "put this on and wait for the air to come in." Bear with it. "

I don't know where I come from. I didn't spit out this situation, but comforted others.

I also put on a mask and sat down. Someone took someone else's seat because he didn't buy a ticket, and there was an argument; The children are fighting; The fan on the roof is blowing, putting luggage and talking ... there is chaos and noise. Not far away, the Afghan father and son looked into my eyes with helpless expressions. Do they also regret buying a non-air-conditioned car?

The quarrel between people is getting louder and louder, but there is no vehicle controller to mediate. Later, evil did not suppress right, and those who didn't buy tickets left in despair. The carriage was quiet for a while, but the fan hanging overhead was still blowing. There is a fan on the train. This scene is the first time I've seen it since I was so big. Sorry, I took the train for the first time in England, and then the high-speed rail and light rail in China.

The car hasn't started yet, and there will always be the smell of the toilet in a while. I tied the mask tighter and said to myself, "Nothing, the journey is to experience life. Any experience is worth it. I want to accept any experience."

After telling myself this, I feel much better. After the car starts, the smell will be blown away by the wind. I'm waiting for the car to start.

When the bus finally starts, I can finally take off my mask and breathe some fresh air, although every time I stop at the station, the smell will come as scheduled.

Everything is done in the carriage. Sleeping, putting children to sleep, playing with children, chatting ... A father put his sleeping daughter directly on the dining table, and the little girl slept soundly.

Vendors, beggars and people without tickets can get on and off at will. This is already a second-class non-air-conditioned car, and the sight of those third-class cars is unimaginable. No sooner had I settled down than someone touched me with something. Looking back, a beggar looked at me straight and waited for a while, holding a plate and asking me for money. I pushed my husband and motioned, "Do you want to give it? How much is it? "

"Can't give money, give him bread." He said it in Chinese. Every time he travels abroad, he "whispers" with me in Chinese. For him, this is the greatest advantage of knowing Chinese.

We gave all the food in the bag to the beggar. Later, I learned that there were many beggars in the car, and one was given, but two, three and ten were not given. ......

Mr. Wang began to talk with the boy and son next door, from which we learned a big "secret" of Indian train tickets.

In India, normal train tickets (second class or third class tickets) are very difficult to buy. People must buy tickets one month in advance when traveling. One reason is that there are many people, and the other reason is corruption.

There is a kind of train ticket that can be understood as a last-minute ticket, that is, the government controls 20% of the tickets not to be sold at the station, and then sells these tickets at a high price after the ordinary tickets are sold out. This is no secret in the eyes of Indians, but it seems incredible to foreigners.

This last-minute ticket is like this:

After 80% of the regular tickets are sold out, the remaining 20% will be divided into two 10%. People can only buy such tickets between 10 and 12 the morning before the train leaves, one is 10% and the other is 10.

The young man told us in great detail. No wonder we saw people on the top of the train and on the windows. This is one of the reasons. Another reason is that the population is too large for car managers to manage those who get on the bus without tickets. It is said that the door of the third-class car is always open on big holidays, because it can't be closed at all. As long as you can hang it on the car, people can go in and out freely.

"No wonder the air-conditioned car we just bought is so expensive! It turned out to be because of this! " I said.

The young man said, "Your ticket price is still normal. The government will reserve a certain number of tickets for foreign tourists, so there will be a special foreigner window at the ticket office. That last-minute ticket is actually for the rich. They can pay high prices without waiting in line until they buy at a fixed time. For the rich, money is not a problem, but time is a problem. The government can also get more benefits, so why not? "

Yes, from the perspective of the government and the rich, it is indeed a win-win situation. But what about the poor?

At this time, no matter how beautiful the Taj Mahal is, it can't eliminate the sadness that emerges in my heart.

Just as I was deep in thought, a buddy turned on the stereo, picked up the receiver and sang Indian songs, and the whole carriage became lively again.

That man sings songs from Indian movies. People can order songs, and he can almost sing. I don't understand the specific lyrics, but the tune is enough to make people happy. Indian songs, I want to twist my body when I listen to them, but I can't help it. I have the urge to dance. And the little girl sleeping on the dining table is still in shock. I wonder if there is a world outside India in her dream?

Thanks to that buddy, I eased the boring time in the carriage, read one song after another and sang another. I imagined myself jumping out of the car and floating on it. The window became so small that I couldn't see the people and things inside. My empty shell sits next to my husband. The young man's harsh singing was accompanied by the sound of the train rubbing against the tracks ... everything seemed chaotic and terrible. But when I put my head into one of the windows, I saw people I didn't know, and they didn't think anything was wrong. This is their life, every day for generations. And what right do I have to judge other people's lives? I am just a passer-by, a person who thinks he has seen a lot of the world and comes to see them again. At this moment, I thank them for letting me see the real life.

This is the human world, and what I see is only the tip of the iceberg.

With the last song of my buddy, the bus slowed down and arrived at the station. Where will I go next and what will I see?

And I believe that without expectation, there will always be surprises.

(Please look forward to the next episode: The Third Episode of the North)

End of this article

Travel review

Warm-up: India Tour | Warm-up: Sri Lanka for 5 hours

South Episode 1: A Journey to India | Landing in the South to Meet My God and Horn.

South Episode II: A Journey to India | You sowed the seeds yesterday, and today you and I reap the fruits.

South Episode 3: A Journey to India | A Sudden "Indian Wedding"

Western Episode 1: A Journey to India | Oxford, India: Panzigani

The second episode of the West: a trip to India | There is a feeling in the world that I graduated from a new era!

The first episode of the North: a trip to India | There is a kind of trip called: going to Linxi Hall.