Day 140

Jammy dodger paste fills my teeth, I sip Sprite to wash it away. Lying in bed, I wonder when the next filling will be required. Then another CGM (continuous glucose monitor) alarm goes off and my cold feet tap across tiles to silence it. I swipe away the warning that my blood sugar is low. 

Soon, my actual alarm will be going off. It’s not been a great night for my diabetes, through fluctuations I’ve slept very little, yet my actual alarm is set to go off before 5 am! I pull the sheets up to my neck and smell the previous humans who used this bed. Smell the damp residue of monsoon rains soaked into the walls. Smell the aroma of a salty low blood sugar clinging to my moist pyjamas.

Today, we’re up super early to catch the glory of the Taj Mahal pre-dawn with minimal crowds — or so we hope. But after a night of terrible lows and fluctuating blood sugars, I feel wretched. We head down to reception at 5:30 am to meet our host and guide. 

“Don’t make eye contact with the monkeys, they’re smart and trade. Give me food or you won’t get your camera back. And they only hand it over if they see the exchange happening.” Our host explains on the walk to the Taj. He’s exuberant and business savvy, dressed in a dark grey suit he purposefully strides through the quiet streets of Agra.

The shops and stalls that line the narrow streets are empty, yet even at this hour, men on push bikes and scooters are moving stock across town and an occasional rickshaw trundles past, getting into position for the day to come. 

The air is cold, I breathe out and vapour condensates before my mouth, it’s maybe 4 or 5 degrees — a dramatic contrast to hot air-conditioned nights in Mumbai. Fog lays low and shrouds the horizon as we approach the Taj. This fog is a winter phenomenon here, it’s beautiful but renders the Taj into a misty outline from across her fountain pools. But closer we get and soon she takes shape. The balance of her central dome and four mirrored minarets is a marvel.

Our host explains how the Taj was a gift of love from a man to his deceased wife. Inside, a guard uses a torch to show how light filters through the amber rocks and ivory marble, making them glow. I try to imagine how magnificent the Taj was in its inception in 1648. Luminescent shimmering white rock, the moonlight pouring through resin bright amber, and silence, only a solitary man standing and staring at the tomb of his soulmate. 

I visited last 15 years ago, our host explains how it has changed in that time. The white rocks have grown yellow from air pollution and many precious stones have been gorged out with tools, hence the extra security, restrictions, and railings we see.