I never felt true empathy for famous people covering their faces and complaining about their fame, until my trip to the Taj.
I'm not too sure why Indian tourists crave a picture of or with two fair skinned 'American girls.' Do they go back to their friends to show the picture and tell them a tall tale of how they fell in love with a Western girl and they will soon marry? Does the photo of us with the Indian family get blown up, framed and mounted in the living room? Maybe they find a place for it in their wallets to show people they meet? Who knows...
We decided to have fun with the swarms of people snapping our pictures, sometimes asking permission but most of the time not. We were full of patience and jovial expressions for everyone, in the spirit of ‘shanty time’.
The view of the Taj was blocked by crowds of single men and families all waiting their turn to sit with us and pose for a picture. We smiled so much my cheeks began to ache and I noticed that they look fairly serious, boarder-line angry in their photo poses.
At one point we had a baby fly onto our laps without warning and probably had looks of shock in those snap shots.
Some families wanted us to take their picture and show us what they looked like on the display of our digital cameras. I always found these requests very sweet. The families would look at the display and have a smile creep up and a sense of pride for how lovely their family looked in a group shot.
When at the Taj, what else is there to do than embrace celebritism.
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