Agra is a very old, very historical and very crowded Indian city. Even though there are no tall buildings to block your view, the great white structure is not apparent as you approach on foot. Cars are not allowed within a few kilometer radius, so I had to walk. The entryway makes a turn and suddenly, for the first time, I saw the Taj Mahal and it took my breath away. My heart is fluttering even now as I remember. It sounds silly, but this building really did knock me on my feet.

Seeing it later in the day, from an elevated distance upriver at the Red Fort of Agra - The fort can be more accurately described as a walled palatial city, helped me to appreciate the Taj Mahal even more and to solemnly conclude that it is the single most impressive architectural structure I have ever witnessed. The best description I have read simply called the Taj Mahal a "teardrop in time." And that it is.

I should instead say that I spent December 25th at the Taj Mahal, because Christmas is a time for family and a time for friends, and I didn't have that this year. On Christmas Eve I happened to see a big party in Delhi that was broadcast on television. Lots of young, drunk Indian urbanites were ringing in the Christmas holiday with songs of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and plenty of trashy Jingle Bells renditions. They were drunk and very sloppy, and I wanted to barf, because it seemed so strange to see people getting drunk and smoking cigarettes and wearing slutty clothes to celebrate Christmas. For my Indian friends, maybe it would be like if I held a big Diwali rave in San Francisco and passed out little orange ecstacy tablets with a black ॐ on them.