Dream Trip 2009

Great Travel Moment

I took this photo while waiting in line to see the inside of the Taj Mahal. The Taj itself is incredibly beautiful. One of the only major monuments I've seen that actually lives up to the hype that surrounds it. But, despite its beauty, my camera lens was often pulled away from the monument, and directed toward the people who were visiting it. The Indian melting pot has always fascinated me: Muslims, Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, and many more living in harmony. In India, people accept all religions into their lives. For example, the host family I lived with for four months were devout Hindus, but their vegetarian diet was linked to Jainism, we had statues of Lord Buddha in our family shrine, and their closest family friends were Sikh and Muslim.