Call to Allah in Agra

A monkey sidled past me today as I opened my window for fresh air in our newest pick of budget hotels. We are staying in the Taj Ganj neighborhood of Agra, just outside of the South Gate of the most adored of Indian monuments, the stunning Taj Mahal.

Agra lay under a heavy smog today and from our rooftop restaurant the Taj sat heavy and looming just on the other side of the gate. Despite the poor viewing conditions it still struck us as incredibly surreal. The building is massive - more so than is possible to represent by photos. And it's 400 years old, dating to a time when America was a series of colonies in their infancy. The visitors milling beneath the ivory exterior were tiny compared to the soaring structure and four guardian minarets. The call to prayer from the local mosques set the scene with a wailing "Aaaaaaallllllllaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" calling out to all Muslims under the thick air.

Tomorrow we go to visit the Taj Mahal on the same day as a major Muslim holiday, Eat. It's a day of sharing food among all classes and the locals are very excited about it. A group of friendly Muslim boys chatted with us today in good English, telling us of their pending holiday and the best time to visit the Taj, and they were simply nice young men. They didn't even try to sell us anything.

I thought back to my casual midday conversation with an artisan's son in a silversmith shop called Hari Om in Jaisalmer. The son is about my age and is engaged to be married to a younger woman soon. We discussed politics and the recent violence in Mumbai.

"I no friends with Muslims now. Before, had friends, we meet and drink chai together and talk. Now I will say namaste but no more. Because I don't know. You see, Muslim support Muslim and Hindu support Hindu. So this not good situation. I come away from all my Muslim friends now." He's willing to be amicable to his Muslim friends but has distanced himself completely from their friendship, apparently associating all Muslims with the violent terrorist minority.

I can understand being afraid and having difficulty trusting, that's natural. But without maintaining and strengthening friendships across these cultural and religious lines, should doomsday break we shall be far the worse for it. It's a shame that the actions of a tiny but terribly violent minority have succeeded in any way among the civilized, but in this way I fear they have.