Nimi Khanna planned and choreographed this wonderful party. She wanted our evening beside the Taj Mahal to be devoted to “amoré”.
The Taj Mahal stands to celebrate the matchless love Emperor Shah Jahan had for his Queen Mumtaz. The famous Bengali poet, Tagore, describing Shah Jahan’s grief on Mumtaz’ death, wrote “Running tears turned his garment white” and the rest of the court followed suit. As did we!
We alighted from our white-draped rickshaws walking through white-uniformed horse guards with spears held high and up a path lit by hundreds of white candles. We lounged on white bolsters under a new moon with plenty of cold Kingfisher and platters of prawn, chicken and beef kebabs from the kitchen of Sheraton’s famous Bukhara Restaurant watching Alan “performing” a recitation of Tagore’s poem.
At every mention of Mumtaz, my sister-in-law Jenny, demure in white, could be seen being attended to by her hand maidens behind semi-transparent Indian blinds and a curtain of threaded white flowers. Can you imagine 18 men remaining silent in rapt attention during a poetry reading? It was either the numbing effects of the cold Kingfisher beer, or dare I say, the performer himself!
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