Poor Maintenance Of Historical Monuments In India

Some time ago, I along with a friend of mine went for a weekend ride to Agra. Both of us has been to Agra before, I as a matter of fact have lived there for an entire year so there was nothing new to see and It was more of a photo trip since I had just acquired a new Nikon DSLR and wanted to test it.

Taj Mahal

We visited Taj Mahal in the evening that day and my main motive of getting a couple of good shots almost became impossible due to the huge amount of people over there. So we came back and went again the next morning. The gates were not open yet but there was still a huge line at the ticket counter, most of them being photographers like me. When after a while we went in, I witnessed something that morning that both surprised and saddened me deeply. There were stray dogs sleeping right next to this ancient and beautiful monument. No I am not talking about the premises and the area around, which would also be equally shocking but here I am referring to the white marble platform that Taj Mahal stands upon. I counted 5 stray dogs either sleeping or roaming around freely on that platform. I just stood there for a minute trying to believe my eyes when I noticed a caretaker walking by. I pointed the dogs out to him but he just shrugged his shoulders in a “who cares” manner and went his away. While I was still comprehending this, I noticed a couple of foreigners walking on the platform with their shoes on which is strictly prohibited. I pointed this out to them and they in turn pointed out to me that half of the Indians visiting Taj Mahal that morning had their shoes on. They did not bother to either respect the monument or the instructions at the bottom of the stairs asking people to take their shoes off while climbing up on the platform. I came back to our hotel thinking, “Is this what we have now come down to? No respect for our own heritage? No respect for a monument that is often used as a symbol of India?” Take a look at THIS LINK and you will find numerous photos of dogs roaming freely on Taj Premises. This also made me think that ASI denies entry for tourists to Taj Mahal at night, so a night at Taj Mahal is now “Dogs exclusive”?

In 2003, the then chief minister Mayawati came up with her infamous “Taj Corridor Project”, estimate of which was almost $40 Million. Idea was to build a corridor that would connect Taj with other historical sites in the city and hence tourists would be able to avoid having to go through the town. In order to do this, suggestion to alter the flow of Yamuna was made and an argument that the water would as it is be weakening the foundation was given. As we were to learn later, as architects started to study the surroundings for this project, that Taj Mahal is built on a wooden platform which would remain strong as long as it gets sufficient water, which of course comes from Yamuna. So altering the flow would have proven to be a death knell for Taj Mahal. Another incident happened when a yoga guru named Vikram Choudhury was allowed to hold impromptu classes on the main platform. It was reported that that ignorant so called guru even allowed his students to rest against the delicate lattice screens after sessions.

I saw another shining example of such ignorance a few days ago while visiting Qutub Minar and adjoining Mehrauli Archaeological Site. A sign-board at the entrance gate of Qutub Minar reads that no bags are allowed inside due to security reasons. We were in a group of three and all of us had our bags strapped on our shoulders. None of the security guards bothered to stop us or to check what was inside the bags. As a matter of fact, most of the people that morning were carrying bags inside the premises and no one bothered to stop or check. When I pointed out to the security guards about the bags we were carrying, he just gave me “Yeah whatever” looks and waived us on. What if any of the people going in had a bomb in any of the bags? What if the intention was to destroy the monument? Terrorist attacks in our country are definitely not something that rarely occurs.

Right next to Qutub Minar is a so called archaeological site which now is just mostly a park and ruins of what must have been beautiful tombs once upon a time. There is no restoration work happening and just one guard is posted at Jamali Kamali mosque in terms of security. I noticed an elderly person urinating right next to what earlier must have been a tomb but now was just an exposed grave.

Truth is that these are just some facts proving the negligence of authorities but we as people are equally guilty. There is not one ancient building in India where you won’t find names and vulgar words carved on the walls. It makes one wonder whether people actually come to these sites to admire the architecture or just to trash it? Funds in Millions are shown in government records as allocated towards restoration of historical sites but where is this money going? There are several historical monuments in India [Delhi itself] that have been encroached by homeless people as their residence. There are no boundary walls and not even a single guard posted, Khooni Darwaza being one such example.

Is this what we have really come down to that our home is the only place we can keep clean and intact? Is the country that we live in not our home to? Or are we really such ignorant to not realize that all these sites are, not as individuals but as a society, our own. Within the walls of our houses, we don’t even let dirt settle over anything because we have to keep it clean but out there in the society, we ourselves become the very dirt that is settling over everything.