February 15, 2018. Time to see the Taj Mahal upfront. The iconic monument has always been ingrained in our collective imagination as humanity reinforced by countless books, photographs, films, cultural references (only rivaled I guess by the Giza Pyramids), it was so surreal to finally see it in person, upfront, and basking on the sunset’s golden hues.
February 14, 2018. I took a night train from Varanasi to Agra that took almost fifteen (15) hours covering a distance of around 430 kilometers. I was barely able to sleep on the train–a first of many train journeys I was to take in India.
I arrived well into the morning the next day. Exhausted from the trip, I first settled at my hostel and took half a day to rest before venturing off that afternoon.