Visit to a Place of Historical Interest

Man has an infinite thirst for knowledge [জ্ঞান]. He always wants to know the unknown and see the unseen to satisfy his curiosity [কৌতুহল] and quench this thirst. Visiting places is a wonderful experience and has lot of educative value [মান]. I am always fond [অনুরাগী] of visiting a new place, particularly if it is a place of historical interest. I have visited most of the main historical places in Bangladesh like the Buddhist Vihara at Paharpur, Mahasthangarh at Bogra, Sonargaon and Bagerhat. Last year I had an opportunity [সুযোগ] to visit the world famous Taj Mahal at Agra in India.

There is hardly an educated person who has not heard or read about the Taj Mahal in India. In my higher secondary English textbook I read description of it. I came to know that it is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. It was built in the seventeenth century by Emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his wife, Mumtaz mahal. I became very curious [আগ্রহী] to visit this wonderful place and was looking for a chance to go there. In February last year some of my friends and I made a plan for touring India, specially to visit Agra.

It took us several days to complete our foreign tour formalities. We managed to procure passports and visas as quickly as possible.

Then we fixed a date for our journey. When the day arrived, we said good-bye to our parents and friends and started our journey to India via Benapol border. By the time reached Bonpara all four of us got very hungry. We ate some food at a restaurant there and caught the Kolkata-bound train at 5 p.m. In Kolkata we put up in a small hotel for the night. As we had a long journey from Rajshahi to Kolkata, all of us had a sound sleep.

Next day we started for Delhi in the morning by train. The thirty-hour journey by train was extremely [অত্যন্ত] tiring but we somehow managed to keep ourselves fresh. After an overnight stay in New Delhi we started for Agra. We started our journey at 12 noon and reached there safe and sound at five in the evening.

The moment we reached the premises of the Taj Mahal, we were overwhelmed with joy and forgot all the exhaustion and hazards of the journey. We fell in love with the Taj at first sight. We felt that no words would be enough to describe its beauty. Immediately, we understood why twenty thousand men worked for twenty-two years to complete the complex.

We saw that the mausoleum of pure white marble inlaid with semiprecious stones, which is flanked by two red sandstone buildings, a mosque on one side and an identical building for aesthetic balance on the other. It stands on a high marble plinth with a minaret at each corner. It has four identical facades, each with a massive [ব্যাপক] central arch, and is surmounted by a bulbous double dome and four domed kiosks. Just inside the outer walls, there is a corridor and from this corridor we looked through the carved marble screens to a central arch, and is surmounted by a bulbous double dome and four domed kiosks. Just inside the outer walls, there is a corridor and from this corridor we looked through the carved marble screens to a central room. ‘The bodies of Shah Jahan and his beloved wife lie in two graves below this room. No visitor is allowed to approach [নিকটবর্তিতা] these original graves.

We also visited the beautiful garden surrounding the Taj Mahal. The green trees of the garden made the white marble of the main building look even whiter.  We also walked round the long pool in front of the main entrance to the building. When we looked in this pool in the evening twilight, we saw all the beauty of the Taj Mahal in the reflection in the water. We could not resist our temptation to take photographs of all the beautiful scenes. We had read that Taj Mahal looks best at night in moonlight. Fortunately, it was the time of the full moon. Therefore [সুতরাং], we waited until night and the rise of the moon. Our wait became significant [গুরুত্বপূর্ণ] when we observed the effect of the moonlight on the white marble of the Taj Mahal. The dazzling whiteness of the marble mingled with the soft whiteness of moonlight created a magic world.

We did not feel like leaving the site [জায়গা] of the Taj Mahal which is known as one of the seven wonders of the world. But at one time we had to. We stayed overnight at Agra and made for New Delhi again the next morning with a sweet memory of visiting a wonderful place of great historical interest. Even today I feel proud to say that I have visited the Taj Mahal. The memory of the Taj mahal will remain ever fresh in my mind.