The Taj Mahal is unarguably India's finest monument. It's a lover's dirge for his late beloved, set in timeless metre and rhythm. It's a lament in marble, a paean to love, that leaves visitors awestruck and enchanted.
It's, therefore, equally painful when the custodians of this great monument are callous and corrupt. A visit to the Taj is meant to be a homage to beauty, love, devotion. Instead, many visitors have come back angry and frustrated.
Arundhuti Dasgupta Singhal has written in Business Standard on the shameful appropriation of Taj Tourism by touts and how officials are aiding and abetting this. It's titled Incredibly Indian: How Taj Mahal Tourism Has Turned Into Harassment:
http://goo.gl/kUF7Hf
A snatch of a sentence from the above blog highlights the plight of ordinary tourists: "Feeling harassed, helpless and angry at the manner in which we have been dragged into a chain of unofficial payments and pay-offs..."
No comments:
Post a Comment