Taj Mahal, Uttar Pradhesh

Perception, they say, is everything.  For many of those visiting the Taj from other parts of India as well as from the rest of the world,  Taj is what the city of Agra is all about. There are those who come to Agra only to visit the Taj,  and those, who come to India only to see the Taj. There are those who feel if they have been to India, but not to the Taj, something is incomplete, and those who feel if they have seen the Taj, they have seen everything there is to see in India. A nerve center of small scale industries, Agra wakes up rather early and sleeps rather late, supporting a huge swathe of livelihoods. It is not uncommon to see people slogging 15 to 18 hours a day in temperatures that tend to oscillate between the extremes. While the constant inflow of tourists that the monument attracts gives them an opportunity to interact with cross sections of humanity they would otherwise not and propels the local economy significantly at various levels, to most of the residents, the monument, perhaps, just serves as a background for the daily chores to unfold and take shape in the foreground.   ..