A photo of the Taj Mahal in Agra can’t really capture the magic of the place. Despite the myriad visitors I found the place to be serene. I was lucky in that the light on the day of our visit was not too bright, bringing to the fore the magic glow of the marble used to build the tomb.

We stayed in Noida the night before, which is connected to Agra by means of a brand-new toll road / highway called Yamuna Expressway, cutting travel time between the two cities to an amazing two hours (minor speeding required). It’s an example of how public private partnerships (PPP) are being employed as one avenue in overcoming India’s chronic infrastructure problems.

Anticipating regular visits to India in the future, we only visited one more place while in Agra – the tomb of Etimad-ud-Daula, aka “Baby Taj”.