Yuman's travels take him to India

Desperate for a change of pace from the spicy vegetarian food featured in Indian cuisine, I begged our tour guide to let me off at the McDonald's and I would find my own way back to the hotel.

I saw only three McDonald's in all of India on my three-week trip.

With beef banned from sale or consumption, I was consumed with curiosity as to what the restaurant would serve. Entering the restaurant, it looked like any other McDonald's, but a quick glance at the menu showed me only chicken sandwiches  or vegetarian wraps and one fish sandwich. The Big Mac in India was the Maharajah Mac, but made with two chicken patties.

Stepping up to the counter I was greeted by a young Indian teenager who spoke excellent English. "Hi, my name is Krishna," he said. "Did I just see you get off that big tour bus?"

"Yes, I couldn't wait to try the food here. I think I'll try the Maharajah Mac."

He tilted his head to one said and looked at me earnestly. "You're not Hindu, are you?" he asked.

"No, I'm not."

"Well, the Maharajah Mac is really, really spicy. I doubt you'd enjoy it," he said.

Anxious to get away from spicy food, I said: "I think I'll have the fish sandwich."

"Good choice," he said and hustled off to get my order. Sure enough, it tasted just like the fish sandwich back here in the United States. It was heavenly.

For nearly three weeks everything delighted me about India except the food, which caused the entire tour group an amazing amount of gastric distress. Now, as we were approaching Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal and the main thing I wanted to see in India, I was hoping I wouldn't have to scurry around looking for public toilets in the world's most beautiful building.

There is little to recommend in Agra except the Taj Mahal. As our tour guide, Prince said upon our arrival: "Welcome to Agra, a place no one would visit if not for the Taj Mahal."

There was a time in the history of India when Agra was considerably more important than it is today. It was a center of power in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Moghul emperor Babur selected it as his capital in 1526, but it was under his grandson, Shah Jahan, that the city reached its peak.

At the time of Shah Jahan in the 17th Century, Agra was a center for art and commerce, with a population greater than London at that time.

Shah Jahan was one of the great Moghul rulers of India, with nearly unlimited wealth and power at his command. But even with all his wealth and power, he was overcome by the beauty of a young girl who he fell in love with on sight. He took her as his second wife and Mumtaz Mahal was the love of his life.

He married her in 1612, when she was 21 years old. She quickly became his favorite wife and in the next 19 years, she gave birth to 14 children. She died during the birth of the last child in 1631. It is said that on her deathbed, she asked the Shah to build a monument and to make it so beautiful that the world would never forget their love.

The Shah succeeded beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Despite all the hype, all the movie shots, all the millions of visitors, this is one site that blows away all expectations.

There are three reasons that make the Taj Mahal such an extraordinary building. First, it is built from marble so white and pure that it literally glows when the light strikes it, whether sunlight or moonlight. Second, the entire building, inside and out is inlaid with semi-precious stones that add color and depth to the building. Third and last, it is perfectly symmetrical from every side, with no variations. Throw in one of the most romantic stories in history and the Taj Mahal becomes the most beautiful and unique buildings in the world.

Located at the center of the building is the tomb of Mumtaz. Hidden behind exquisitely carved marble screens, the tomb is smaller than the one for the Shah, located next to it.

In order to build this fantastic monument, the Shah imported nearly 20,000 workers from Iran and other Muslim countries. Unique among Muslim structures, this tomb is richly decorated with inlaid floral designs in the Hindu manner. As the workers lived in Agra for more than 22 years until the completion of the building in 1653, most of them had established homes there and so they stayed after the completion.

By remaining in Agra, the artisans set up a whole new industry, which survives to this day: The inlaid marble industry. In Agra, it is possible to buy a four-foot round marble coffee table top that is inlaid with lapis lazuli, amber, malachite and other semi-precious stones. Put a light under the table to shine up through the table and the beautiful floral patterns glow like amazing lamps in the dark.

A word of warning, though. A four-foot table costs $7,000, but that includes shipping and a table for mounting.

All of the extavigant spending by Shah Jahan eventually cost a terrible price. Alarmed by rumors that the Shah intended to build an identical tomb of black marble on the river directly opposite the Taj Mahal, the Shah's son had his father captured and imprisoned inside the Agra Fort, where he spent the last few years of his life gazing across the river at his beloved wife's tomb, secure in the knowledge that he had done what she had asked. He died in 1666 and was entombed next to the love of his life.

So the highlight of Agra would be the Taj Mahal, yet when I asked our tour guide if this was the most visited tourist site in India, he surprised me by saying, "No. It is Amber Fort, outside of Jaipur."

"How can that be?" I asked. "Everyone in the world knows the Taj Mahal."

"True," Prince said, "but remember our middle class, which loves to travel, numbers more than 300 million people in India. They all go to Amber Fort."