By Brij Khandelwal, IANS
Agra : French President Nicolas Sarkozy spent an hour at the Taj Mahal Saturday admiring the beauty of the monument to love but minus his friend Carla Bruni, indicating before leaving that he may come visiting again.
Sarkozy, who turns 53 Monday, “admired the beauty of the Taj from different angles”, Indian tour guide Lalit Chawla told IANS, after the president flew back to New Delhi where he was the guest of honour at the Republic Day celebrations earlier in the morning.
As he went round the majestic marble marvel that Mughal emperor Shahjahan built in memory of his wife Mumtaz in the 17th century, Sarkozy talked mostly to members of his 30-strong French delegation.
“He asked me about the Mughals. Where’s the (Agra) Fort, he asked,” Chawla said. “I took him to the rear of the Taj to show him the fort.
“Then he asked about the river Yamuna. I showed him. Why no water, he wanted to know. I answered that the water was blocked in Delhi and Mathura.”
Chawla said Sarkozy, who had been widely expected to visit the Taj with Bruni, also asked about hotels in Agra – a clear indication that he might return to the city one day – probably with his singer-model friend he is expected to marry.
Bruni’s absence notwithstanding, Sarkozy appeared to be in a relaxed mood. At one point, he asked a French lady photographer to pose with him for a photograph at the central tank, the imposing Taj providing the perfect backdrop.
“Unforgettable! Will come soon!” the president wrote in the visitors’ book in French, the translation provided by an Indian official.
With the Taj Mahal complex barred for tourists, Sarkozy looked awe struck by its beauty.
The bright sunshine made the Taj dazzle, a cool breeze adding life to the atmosphere.
“He kept asking questions to his people,” said an official of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which maintains the Taj Mahal.
Moved by rumours over the days that Bruni might make it to Agra with the president, large crowds gathered outside the Taj but were kept behind makeshift barricades erected by the police.
Journalists – at least a majority of them – were kept confined to the parking lot of a nearby shopping complex as well as the Eastern Gate and Western Gate of the Taj.
Even after the president and his delegation left the Taj at 3 p.m. to board his plane at Kheria airport, 10 km away, many wondered why Bruni kept away from the Taj.
“Indians love lovers. They worship Radha and Krishna. The two together (Sarkozy and Bruni) would have made a lovely picture,” said Abhinav Jain, an exporter who was standing at the Eastern Gate.
The excitement among those gathered near the Taj reached a crescendo when half a dozen battery-operated buses drove in around 2 p.m. Many craned their necks to see if Bruni was with the president.
For days there had been speculation that Bruni might fly to Agra although she had announced that she was not going to visit India. Some locals kept insisting that she would land directly in Agra from Paris.
Even some senior police officers admitted they were confused.
Sarkozy’s visit put the average tourist to the Taj to a lot of inconvenience. They had turned up in large numbers due to the Republic Day holiday. But the Taj was closed to visitors around 12.30 p.m. and stayed closed till 3.15 p.m.