A Passage to India

Dominique Browning at the Taj Mahal--it's like Bob Dylan at Budokan, Judy Garland at the Palace, Tammy Wynette at Twitty City, a marriage of legend and locale.



I cannot take it in. It is monumental, too beautiful, an architectural divinity. To gaze fully upon it must be some sort of sacrilege. Tears come to my eyes. The haze of pollution as much as the haze of history? No. I am awed in the presence of the Taj. Days later, the wonder still wells up.

There is a stillness about its majesty, but there is nothing placid about this building. What a diva she is--a presence decidedly feminine. The stage setting of red stone--that feels masculine--in which she is enthroned is handsome, bold . To approach her properly, you must walk slowly, ceremonially, along the paths, through the gateways, so that she reveals herself little by little--a dome, an arch, then the minarets flanked protectively around her, stretching her dominion, adding to her imposing presence�.Like a beautiful woman, our guide says, the Taj should be covered up, only slowly revealed.



But sunrise in India also yields epiphanies that lie a lot lower on the horizon.

Source: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/wolcott/2011/02/a-passage-to-india.html

Noam Chomsky Bill Clinton Hillary Clinton Tom DeLay Elizabeth Dole