Politicians have always hankered after the Taj Mahal, and so it
was not surprising that the man known more for his hate speeches than his
politics now wants the Taj property to be handed over to the Waqf Board. Nobody
will take this seriously, but the responses to Urban Development and Minority
Affairs Minister of Uttar Pradesh Azam Khan reveal the desperate need for others
to claim it too. It used to be a temple, they say. But, unlike the Babri
Masjid, nobody will demolish it because it is a cash cow and the most
recognisable monument of India and among those of the world.
The Imam of the Lucknow Eidgah said, “We should be allowed
to offer prayers at the Taj Mahal five times a day. We have handed over a
memorandum to the chief minister and he has taken it positively.”
Absolutely not. The Taj or any heritage sites suffer the
worst due to human intervention. Also, there will be huge logistic and security
problems. The one-off music festivals are a bad idea too, but at least they
don’t happen everyday. (Here is an old piece on the auctioning of the Taj and other political ideas.)
I am not terribly enamoured of the Taj, but I do believe it
makes for some great pictures (as well as some awful ones). The ones that use people are no less
than a prayer:
We have all come across such moments and it would fall into
the category of stereotype except that photographer Steve McCurry has saved it (obviously so designed) with cropping. The
effect is amazing. Just the reflection and perspective can be upside-down, much
as how the subject would view it. Meeting of man and monument.
* * *
The next three photographs are all by Raghu Rai, who creates
interesting images. He also stages them.
Above is an extension of the urban folklore – an everyday
scene in the forefront instead of the tourist brochure. What’s particularly
noteworthy is that the Taj does not stand out in brilliance against the
seemingly ordinary but appears to become part of the tale.
This one looks old Hindi cinema, probably of the 50’s and
60’s. It is obviously staged. I might even call it exploitative, and not for
its physicality. The woman’s expression does not belie any torment or ecstasy.
She is as stoic as the monument. The pot she carries has no meaning except
cosmetic. It is a striking picture because it conveys the human as stone. (She
could be a replication of a statue.)
* * *
Superb. There are two ways to read this. Viewed from the
crowded cityscape perspective, the Taj is not all that big…it appears here as though an
army of protestors is marching towards the palace. Or it could be seen as the
shining white light in the area of darkness, the diva sometimes, and the knight
sometimes. Finally, it is the reality of the poet...
“taj ik
zinda tasavvur hai kisi shaayar ka
iska afsana
haqeeqat ke siva kuchh bhi nahi
iske aaghosh
mein aakar ye gumaan hota hai
zindagi
jaise muhabbat ke siva kuchh bhi nahi”
