India is reluctant to reopen 2
For the past decade, Chaurasia, 35 years old, has always enthusiastically introduced tourists to the poetic beauty of the Taj Mahal when he took them for a walk on the river.
Although the Taj Mahal reopened in the middle of last month, with strict limits on the number of visitors, Chaurasia’s life, like many other Indians, is still in a state of uncertainty: Not completely closed, but
Sumit Chaurasia (left), local tour guide, on a fishing boat swimming along the Yamuna River next to the Taj Mahal.
`Covid-19 is still with us,` Chaurasia said, pointing to the flames looming on the riverbank from a crematorium next to the temple.
The crowds that usually gather outside the Taj Mahal at sunset have dwindled significantly, with only a few people left, mostly locals.
`Don’t risk your life to visit the Taj Mahal,` he said as the boat floated on the sacred Yamuna river.
India is now just one step out of the painful spring crisis, when the second wave of Covid-19 struck, marked by grim memories of the frantic search for hospital beds, medicine,
As the number of infections began to decline, India gradually reopened, including temples like the Taj Mahal.
`We don’t go out unless necessary,` Chaurasia said.
Tourists visited the Taj Mahal last month.
Agra, a city with countless treasures of Indo-Islamic architecture, including the Taj Mahal, is normally very crowded and always congested with traffic.
Nearly all Agra residents are affected, said Pradeep Tamta, the city’s tourism official.
In a small alley of the city, Irfan Ali, 51 years old, is working hard at a machine filing pieces of conch into moon, star and many other shapes.
According to Ali, over the years, the huge influx of foreign tourists to the city has increased the demand for this exquisite item.
`They wanted to bring back a little bit of the Taj Mahal,` he said.
On the other side of the city, Gaurav Goel, owner of a family sweets business, is also struggling to keep his business afloat.
Kanhaiya Lal Goyal, Goel’s grandfather, a cancer patient, died in May after being infected with Covid-19.
A sweets shop owned by Gaurav Goel’s family in Agra.
During the epidemic period, Goel’s 5 stores earned about 1.3 million USD per year.
`The loss of business does not hurt us mentally,` he shared.
On the busiest day since reopening, the Taj Mahal welcomed about 2,000 visitors, less than 1/10 of the normal number of visitors.
Inside, the typical jostling scene of the past no longer exists, and the scale and solemnity of the mausoleum with carved details of amber, jade, and coral are thus strongly enhanced.
A place that was once busy and bustling suddenly became a private place.
Hara Khan and Satyam Singh, a 20-year-old couple who connected online when the pandemic broke out last year, chatted together in the shade of a domed balcony outside the mausoleum.
`It’s amazing,` Khan said of the temple opening.
