Save the Taj.. from people!

As we entered the parking next to the Taj, we were hollered at by rickshaw drivers operating battery run rickshaws. That made me happy. It gave me a sense of rejuvenation about the heritage and Utopian ideas of upliftment at grassroot levels popped and bubbled in my shaven, sweating head. I was looking forward to the rest of the trip. As we bought our tickets outside, guides pestered us endlessly, peddling their knowledge of the tomb, and their trump card is they would help us bypass the long queue for the security check, and so a quicker entry. "Arre dhoop mein kaale ho jaoge!" Yeah sure, like I'm heading for a spa in there. We chose to stand in queue.

We entered the main gateway abuzz with exhilarated couples and enthusiastic posers for optical illusions suggested by the 'resident' photographers. Plastic water bottles were strewn all over the place. Security camera wires lined the marble work. The loo was built into the original peripheral construction surrounding the Taj. Unused rusting iron pipes piled up at corners, leaning against the walls.
Camouflaged garbage cans pretended to be part of the architecture. More garbage lay closer to the Taj in the pools. Inside the dome, the wooden planks protecting the marble work had lovers' scrawls on it- like they would just about save the main tomb from being defaced. Disposable shoe covers, plastic bottles, wrappers were left inside the surrounding chambers by visitors. Despite a sign outside prohibiting photography, people took pictures inside. Outside, every minaret had a hideous green tall garbage can but the waste was outside it- and it showed against all that white! A digital marque was fitted into one of the surrounding constructions, scrolling a message about low pollution levels. Honestly, we have no sense of ownership for our heritage. We need strict rules to make people carry back their own waste- which is what we did through the entire trip and way back. Shah Jahaan would turn in his grave had he known the Taj would turn into this. The sight of the plastic bottles scarred my trip. The Taj is the world's property and if we don't treasure it then we don't deserve to call it our own.
Come to think of it, where the mythical black Taj was to be erected, we could probably make another Taj with these plastic bottles- and it could be a dark, symbolic tomb- for our heritage and environment.