Article on depleting condition of archeological sites
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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.
vargis 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”?