The American photographer was impatient, for on his list of sights to see in India, only one item remained: the Taj Mahal. Finally his train pulled in to Agra station, and a mass of people poured off the wagons which had been so full it seemed like they might split open before they reached the platform. John Wise had only been able to obtain a second-class ticket, where the Indians were piled on top of one another. Eventually he was able to hail a cab. “You’re lucky I saw you,” the driver of the three-wheeler repeated incessantly. No sooner had they left the swarm of Agra station than the driver stomped on his pedal, and the three-wheeler’s engine squealed. Expertly dodging buffalo, camels and various other livestock, he sped through the permanent carnival of the city streets. “Taj Mahal, and step on it!” John Wise had a plane to catch that afternoon to get back to Pittsburgh, but there was no way he was going back without a shot of the Taj Mahal. The three-wheeler finally pulled up in front of the sacred monument, where hordes of tourists were posing.
“There’s no way I'll get a decent shot from here,” Wise sighed.
“I can take you somewhere to get a better picture. No tourists!” the driver insisted.
“Let’s go!” answered the photographer. “But we gotta hurry, my flight to Pittsburgh leaves in a couple of hours...”
The young reporter was fascinated by the story of the Taj Mahal, which read almost like a fairy tale. The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan was all-powerful, while Mumtaz was a young woman of the common folk. There was nothing special about her, and she had no status in the ruling dynasty. But to the emperor Shah Jahan there was none more beautiful. Though the Maharaja had certain obligations to his family and his people, he promised her his love in secret. But could he dishonour his father and his family for this love? Such an act would be unthinkable. The time came for Shah Jahan to take a wife, and his father had found for him a beautiful woman, quick-minded and from a noble family. He obeyed his father and married the woman. But their marriage was not consummated, for Shah Jahan upheld his promise to Mumtaz.
“What’s going on?” the father of the emperor asked his daughter-in-law. “When am I to have another heir? Why are you not with child?”
“I love your son! He is very kind, and I shall be his wife until the end...” the maid answered.
“So what is going on?”
“Shah Jahan refuses to be...intimate with me. That is why I have not borne you any further heirs,” the maiden explained.
Shah Jahan’s father was apoplectic, and asked himself what could be done about his son. Why would he refuse such intimacy with her? He decided to find his son a second wife; one who was even more beautiful, wealthier and more intelligent. But the Emperor Shah Jahan was madly in love with Mumtaz. He barely noticed the extraordinary beauty of the women presented to him; he listened and obeyed his father’s advice, but once again the marriage remained unconsummated. The years went by, but the emperor was resolute in his loyalty to his love. He would wait until his father’s death to follow his heart’s desire, when finally he was free to wed Mumtaz. Such a joy it would be to share his life with the woman he loved, and the two lovers could now live freely in the sight of all.
One fine day, Mumtaz announced that she was pregnant with their fourteenth child. Shah Jahan was overjoyed at the thought of bringing another life into the world, but as their last daughter was being born, Mumtaz breathed her last. The emperor was devastated at her loss, and the pair had promised to love one another for eternity. Before her death, Mumtaz had asked her husband to make her a new promise: to never remarry, and to build her a mausoleum worthy of their love. The emperor always kept his promises, and decided to build a majestic palace to serve as her tomb.
John Wise arrived on the banks of the river Yamuna, where Indians were performing their ablutions and purifying themselves in the sacred river. The children spotted John Wise and his camera; they darted over to him, but John Wise asked them to stand beside their mother. He clicked the shutter, preserving his love of India for all time in that final photo of his trip.
Alan Alfredo Geday