Smells Like Taj Spirit

Everyone who visits the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World and rendered in a lovely mix of Persian, Turkish, and Indian styles comes there with love in their hearts. After all this dramatic structure is a memorial to a dead lover and we’re suckers for such fables.

Women sit on the “Diana” bench, where another lost soul once perched, alone and neglected by a love that promised a fairy tale life. Interestingly no one mentions that inside the Taj the air is stifling, in fact it stinks with centuries of human exhalent, feet, and body odors from every corner of the world. So when you go keep your eyes on the intricately inlaid marble, the gossamer filigree patterns, the great domes and striking minarets, but try not to breathe.