KEY POINTS:
Agra is a city of the dawn and the dusk. These are the times of day when the Taj Mahal is at its most beguiling; when the sadness, longing and love that lie behind its creation seem most palpable.
So, what to do for the rest of one's
stay in the city that is home to one of the wonders of the world?
Of course one can be inveigled into a marble showroom. What about a marble two-seater bench with matching armchairs and table - all made of white marble and inlaid with lapis lazuli, malachite and paua (the shop owner assures me this really is paua from New Zealand but I suspect that if I'd told him I was Australian the story might have been different...).
I rather fancied the idea of the outdoor furniture but then I'd have needed to buy the matching marble three-tier fountain as well. The combined price was perhaps a little steep - it appeared my choices could have been worth more than my entire house.
With astronomical prices ruling out any extensive shopping expeditions I was on the look out for other entertainment and until recently Agra did lack in this department. But not now.
For the last three months there has been a new attraction for both foreign tourists and visiting domestic tourists alike. It's a uniquely Indian attraction that somehow manages to combine the skills of its marble craftsmen, elements of a sound and light show, a touch of Bollywood and a three-metre high model of the Taj Mahal.
This could sound like a recipe for disaster - a theatrical equivalent of a Taj Mahal snow dome (which incidentally are now so kitsch they have become collector's items - buy yours now*). However somehow it all works - after all Andrew Lloyd Weber has staged musicals on rollerblades, Pierce Brosnan has starred in a hit musical without being able to sing a note so why not a marble Taj rising from a stage floor?
This new attraction is called Kalakriti - a live show performed in Agra's new cultural and convention centre with its deep red rouched velvet curtains and even semi-reclining seating.
The show combines live performers acting out the story of Shah Jahan (the creator of the Taj Mahal) and his second wife Mumtaz, accompanied by a troupe of dancers awash with glittering jewellery and, in the case of the girls, clad in eye-bogglingly gorgeous saris. The music is traditional Indian meets Bollywood.
It's all wonderfully over the top but despite this, the death-bed scene when Mumtaz is dying after giving birth to her 13th child (the event that prompted her husband to build the Taj Mahal) is still surprisingly moving.
It's at this point that the world's largest replica of the Taj rises from the floor. This too manages to somehow avoid appearing tacky - a kind of refined version of Blackpool's Wurlitzer organ materialising above the ballroom dance floor).
Then that the sound and light show kicks in with the Taj bathed in coloured lights while scenes of dawn, dusk, storms and moonlight are projected on to the screen behind.
The grand finale is the entire cast marching on to the stage, now carrying flags of India and singing: "We are proud of India." That, although perhaps not directly related to the story of the Taj, is almost as touching as the deathbed screen.
It seems even more poignant now after the events in Mumbai, especially for the enterprising Indians who have created the show, no doubt in the expectation of an influx of tourists.
Now they must wait to see if their dancers will be performing in front of a sea of entranced faces, or rows of empty seats.
- Jill Worrall
Pictured above: The magnificent Taj Mahal was the inspiration for a new live show in Agra called Kalakriti. Photo / Jim Eagles