Taj or Trash Mahal, India 2nd December 2006

3 Responses to “Taj or Trash Mahal, India”

1
Jeff Ambrose:
I have just had a look through all your images and I have to say I am amazed. Let me apologize in advance for the length of this message. In the 6th grade I had to do a report on a country, any country in the world, and I randomly chose Nepal. Since that day I have been entranced with the region and have not been able to get the Himalayas out of my mind. I hope to someday visit the area although I doubt I\'ll be able to make it much farther than base camp on Everest, I have poor knees. Until that day I will enjoy your images and keep saving. Thanks for the inspiration.
[Reply]
December 1st, 2006 at 09:17
2
Jeff Ambrose:
I have to completely agree with you also, we as a race are treading on thin ice I only hope we can correct our mistakes before it is too late.
[Reply]
December 2nd, 2006 at 10:55
3
ROB:
Those people walking sure put the Taj into perspective. Came here from a link too, will definitely be back.
[Reply]
December 2nd, 2006 at 23:21

modelCanon EOS 5D
exposureTime 0.001 s (1/2000) (1/2000)
fnumberf/3.2
exposureaperture priority (semi-auto)
isoEquiv200
DateTime2006:06:14 13:55:32
meteringModematrix
focalLength200.00 (200/1)
exposureModeAuto Exposure

The story behind "Taj or Trash Mahal, India"

I have many more images of this wonderful piece of art and the greatest monument of love in the world and will post some later to show its beauty and the story behind it. But now I will focus on an uglier aspect of India.

When we were traveling by cheap trains through India we were found to be a very interesting species, with pale colour and sweating a lot in the 40+ degrees heat -104F. I was asked by a friendly man in the seat opposite us -who did not believe a word about me just returning from Everest :-) what I though was the biggest problem for the Indian people. I replied, saying that there were too many of them. I was aware that it might be a bit rude to say it, but for me it is also rude to not be able to set one single step anywhere without being watched, begged, harassed or even welcomed by at least 20 people constantly, anywhere, anytime, anyplace…

He seemed a bit surprised but agreed full-heartedly.
Almost one 5th of the world’s population lives on a relatively small piece of earth, which geographical features range from sandy paradise beaches, through deserts, forests and the wonders of the Himalaya. One of the most well-known symbols of India worldwide is the Taj Mahal.

Most people visit the Taj from the entrance in the old city of Agra to see its pristine beauty. But if you take a different view -literally- you can go see this from the backside. Basically the same as the building is symmetrical, but many square kilometers of trash are polluting the fields surrounding this pride of India.
What if the friendly Indians, most of whom currently have less than a dollar to spend per day, start consuming like we westerners do? We have exceeded our allowed global footprint many times, we cannot tell them not to do the same, unless we give a good example and start lessening our impact. Until we do that, we might very well not see this building in the near future as it will literally be covered in trash…

(3 comments add yours: click the link above the image, or share using the buttons.)