" I am Taj...Wah Taj..

I am the wonder of the world

Some say eighth but records differ

A mavel of pristine white marble

Yellowed from systematic pollution

Still standing-Majestic and awe inspiring

A tomb for a dead beghum...an escape for a lovelorn prince

A symbol of love!

Or a symbol of oppression and monarchy

A self obsessed man's stubbornly persistent dreams

A symol of immortal selfish love

A tomb built on the carcasses of hundreds

A dumb spectacle of the divide of haves and have nots...

I am Taj..Wah Taj!

I am a brand world wide

I have a million stories and a billion secrets

Buried deep inside my chest..shhh!

I am a shahenshah's dream and a billion broken dreams

The fragments of which still reflect on my dome

When the dying sun shines

I was brought from faraway and made by deft hands

With indifference and love-scores of tanned, sweating men

And after centuries and forgotton stories I stand still..I still stand!

On the bank of a poisoned, non existent river

Erected with  doomed tax payer's money ( laughter!)

For immortal love! Wonderwall! Wonderland!

Look at me and startle yourself!

At my beauty! My splendor! My history!

Listen deep...the harrowing tales! the muffled cries..

I am Taj...Wah! Taj!!"

Sumeet Panigrahi