Doomed to Fail - Ep 6 - Part 2: Love you Forever! - The Story of the Taj Mahal

Episode Date: November 10, 2023

Today, we are re-releasing the love story of Shah Jahan, who built one of the world's most beautiful buildings for his love, Mumtaz Mahal. The first two questions that come up on google for 'Taj Mahal' are 'Is the Taj Mahal a mosque or what?' and 'Who built Taj Mahal for why?' soooooo take a listen and learn the answers to both those questions and more! Photos via the CC and Midjourney. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doomedtofailpod/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/doomedtofailpod  Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/@doomedtofailpod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@doomed.to.fail.pod Email: [e-mail]  Join our Founders Club on Patreon to get ad-free episodes for life! patreon.com/DoomedtoFailPodWe would love to hear from you! Please follow along! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doomedtofailpod/  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/doomedtofailpod  Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/@doomedtofailpod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@doomed.to.fail.pod Email: [e-mail] 

Hi, Taylor from Dune to Fail. Today we're re-releasing episode 6 part two, where we talk about one of the new seven wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal. So we'll learn about the man who built it, Shah Jahan, and the woman that he built it for, Mumtaz Mahal. I hope you enjoy. If you have any suggestions or things that we should do, shoot us an email. Dump tofillpod at gmail.com. And just a reminder, I'm re-releasing all of our episodes. Our older ones were a little bit longer. There were two stories and one. So we're re-releasing them separate. Friday until we run out of once and re-release, but you can always go back and just scroll to the bottom of our list and start there as well. Totally up to you. And yeah, here we go. Here's the Taj Mahal. Thanks. In a matter of the people of the state of California versus Horthall James Simpson, case number

B.A.019. And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country. Cool. Well, thanks. So what do you have for us that is tea and or champagne related? It's mostly tea related. But I know I've talked about how I definitely don't want to do just like Western history and like white people. So today we're going to go to India. So what is the most famous building in India?

Taj Mahal. Haj Mahal. That's what we're talking about today. Taj Mahal. It's going to be a good one. Do you know that the Taj Mahal is one of the seven wonders of the world of the moment?

No. Can you name any of them? There's seven wonders of the ancient world and seven wonders of like the world that are still around. Grand Canyon, the towers,

the gardens of Babylon, Taj Mahal. I'm out. Amazon rainforest. No, those are like natural things. We're talking about, these are all things like people,

built. Oh, the Great Wall of China? Yes. So, good. I'm just going to tell you. I'm just going to tell you. The ancient world, there's a bunch of big statues. It's the Colossus of Rhodes, which is like a big statue of a god. There's a statue of Zeus at Olympia. The only one that we can still see is the Great Pyramids. There's the hanged gardens of Babylon. You got that one. There's a temple of Artemis, a mausoleum at Helicarnassus, and the Lighthouse of Alexandria. So most six of those we can't see anymore, but we like know that they exist in. Of the current world, the people, things that we can see, there's a Coliseum, the Great World of China, the Taj Mahal, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, Machu Picchu, Tuchinica, and the Pietra

and Jordan. So it's one of the seven wonders of the world. It's a beautiful building. We'll talk about the architecture and when it was built. But I wanted to also start with reading some of the one star reviews on Google reviews, just to get an idea of what it's like. to visit the Taj Mahal. So a person named Kevin recently wrote one star, there was Nolan McDonald's nearby, which for a tourist spot is a shame. Also, it needed an audio tour

as I refused to learn how to read. I think maybe he's joking. Yeah, I kind of like Kevin's sense of humor. And there's a Hulia with an accent over the U that says, the beauty of his place is just destroyed by the stupidness of the people. You can't even enjoy.

the moment because you will be told millions of times move we're taking a picture so it sounds very crowded when you go visit it um this is my favorite it's one from zh just the initials and it's long but part of it is they visited it third they visited it three times and this time was the worst ever there was no internet and no mobile network they provide Wi-Fi for 30 minutes but after 18 minutes it was turned off they say you can pay for a longer connection but there is no link to pay the website anywhere and when in inside, expecting to pay, get Wi-Fi, but I wasted an hour trying to connect to the stupid Wi-Fi. People are not living in the moment. You're in the Taj Mahal and you're looking at your phone party on the Wi-Fi.

Just take some pictures and put them on Instagram later. So I vehemently refuse to visit Italy or France. Mm-hmm. Okay. Because I know. You have a, I know that the Italy thing is probably weird to you, but it's because. Both those are weird, but continue. Because it's so touristy. It's like all the stuff that you want to go to.

It's like, like I said, like I avoid crowds. I avoid large gatherings as much as I possibly can. Like the Eiffel Tower, you know, the Louvre, like all the things you want to do there, it's just could be cram packed with Kevin's. And that's what it's only with Taj Mahal is like, too. It's like very, very crowded, like almost constantly. But you know who else gave a positive review of the Taj Mahal is Eleanor Roosevelt. She went to visit it in the 1950s.

And so Eleanor said, I think of all. the things I've seen in the world, this is the most perfectly proportioned. The purity of the white marble makes the conception of the internal purity of real love, a very living thing. I escaped the guides as much as possible because I felt that this was a perfection that one must feel and let sink in. It could not just be talked about. So it's a nice review from our dear ER about it. She's so eloquent consistently. That was in my day, her daily column about what she was up to. but that was in the 50s. So the Taj Mahal is really hard to research.

So I looked at like, you know, like Wikipedia pages and some articles, but it felt like there's either like a pretty straightforward history or there's conspiracy theories and there's not much in between about like what actually happened. So I had a hard time. I was like looking around the internet and I was looking at podcasts and books and I couldn't find anything. And this morning I finally found one that I listened to this afternoon that was, from the BBC called You're Dead to Me

and it told a more nuanced story of the Mughal Empire and the Taj Mahal that we'll talk about but it was hard to find more and I feel like there is a lot more to this story that like just isn't available for whatever reason but the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum located in Agra India so it's the north center of India so if I take my hand and flip it over it looks like India is right here

like in the top of my poem this is an audio medium so nobody I know, but you get it. India looks like a palm upside down. Got it. Okay. That's where it is. It's in the middle. It's not on the coast.

It's in the middle. It is next to a river. It was built by Mughal Empire Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife, Moumthaz Mahal. So, Shah Jahan was born in 1592. When he was born, his name was Prince Coraham. He's a direct descendant of Jenghis Khan. And a powerful line of cons and warriors that are moving into India. So a lot of violence to kind of get here.

but this empire was huge so this is we're at the same time as like the tutors like right after Elizabeth the first so we're like 100 years after the Henry the A's story so it's pretty modern really it's like not that long ago that all this happened and it was like

these like Mongol empires moving down into India this empire is called the Mughal M-U-G-H-A-L but that's kind of where he comes from their Islamic empire that came down into India and I also want to mention that everybody to listen to the wrath of the cons by Dan Carlin.

He talks about Jenghis Khan. And I'm really, really nervous that I'm going to say it wrong. Exactly. Because you have to say Jenghis, because that's what Dan Carlin says. And I'm like, I have to say the correct way. And the correct way is the Dan Carlin way. Always. So we're going to Jenghis Khan.

So a direct descendant of Jhajan becomes emperor. Shahjahan means king of the world. And in order to become emperor, he needed to fight his brothers, essentially. So it wasn't always the oldest became the ruler. It was, you know, the one who could, you know, maybe fight to the death, fight to the blinding. They would blind each other, you know, things like that. So people were pretty like mauled to get to, to get to power. And so it's a lot of that.

And a lot of also like even like the, the Mongols, when I listen to Rath of the Khans, halfway through, I was like, why aren't we all Mongols? makes no sense that they didn't just, you know, take over the entire world. They were very, very far on their way to doing that. And it's the same reason that we talk about with Catherine the Great and with Henry the Ace, it's that you're not guaranteed to have smart kids and you are probably going to have dumb ones. And it's just like dumb kids.

Did you? Did you know that the Dothrakees of Game of Thrones is based on the Mongols? That makes sense? Totally. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So, you know, we'd think that they would be really like they were on their way.

But once Cenghis Khan passed away, his sons divided up the empire and they fought each other and then it disappeared. It just is as simple as that, like one generation and it can be gone. But Shahjahan becomes emperor of the Mughal Empire. He married three women, but his favorite was Mumtaz Mahal, which means jewel of the palace. She had a different name before they were married, but that was the name that she didn't. you know, named by it by history. She was also semi-royalty. So she was like part of the upper class. They got engaged and were engaged for five years before they got married. So in the meantime, he had married another person and then he married someone else after. But those were

like political marriages. And he like really loved Moom Taz Mahal. And then also the name Taj Mahal, like no one really knows where it comes from. And they think it kind of talks, it's kind of a way of like saying Mum Taz Mahal in a different way. Are you saying TAS, like TAS, like T-A-S, Hall? Her name Moom T-A-Z. M-U-M-T-A-Z. Yeah. Okay. So that is maybe where the word Taj Mahal came from. But like they're not, no one's really 100% sure. Maybe. So in old literature, you'll notice that the, um, the characters might look the same, but they'll be pronounced differently. So for example, in old English literature, I bought a book for my dad. It was like a 19, like, or not, it was like a 1500. copy of something or a book, but they had no S's because all the Fs back then were pronounced and so they could be one of those situations. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I'm sure that there's I've absolutely no idea how these were actually pronounced. So I'm trying my best. And so they were married in 1612. He became emperor in 1628. So again, we're about 90 years after Henry the 8th.

So 1603 is when Elizabeth I first. her rule ends and the tutor the tutor line ends so it's kind of lining up so we know that in tasma hall dies like that's the whole point of the whole tash mahal and the whole story it's a tomb um for her um guess what she died doing childbirth yeah she's having her 14th baby she's 30 years old having her 14th child only seven of her kids survived um you know like into adulthood which is a terrible odds and when she died giving birth to her 14th child she was 38 years old and I've been thinking like as I was saying it was hard to find information about this and I was like is this a tragic love story like everyone's wife died of childbirth like I don't know I don't want

to be a jerk but like that happened all the time and he had two other wives so like kind of whatever but all accounts are that they did love each other she traveled with him on military campaigns and he only had like one child with his other wives for like political reasons. So I guess that's romantic. Yeah. So this was this was his actual like true love. Yes. And he was devastated when she died. And so he, you know, spent a couple days in exile just like being sad and then came out and said that he wanted to build like a big monument to her. And that is a Taj Mahal. But he also built it to show his power and status because it's huge and gorgeous. And so he really, no, my sister has. I'm trying to find the picture of her there, but I

haven't been. It's interesting because with all those old, you know, artifacts, buildings, I don't know what you would say, but like the scale of it is hard to understand when you see them in pictures. But that would be the case with the Taj Mahal too. Yeah, absolutely. I think I'm going to talk about that in a little bit because I have some, you know, stats on what it looks like and the kind of where it is in the city. But it took 22 years to build. And during that time, Shahjahan was overthrown by one of his sons that he had with Mumtaz Mahal and she put and he put his dad in prison for eight years but when he when Shahjahan died he did get to be buried in the Taj Mahal as well so the his life didn't end as like in like supreme power but his son

did let him get buried you know next to his his beloved wife so I'll talk about conspiracy theories in a little bit but some things that I found that aren't verified but they're not controversial so like could be true and it doesn't matter. So I heard it cost, if you converted it to today's money in dollars, it cost a billion dollars to build. So it was like super, you know, best of the best of everything. 20,000 people worked on it and it was a mixture of artisans and probably some slaves, probably some people who were paid, you know, really poorly. But like the pyramids, so there's like a new thought about the pyramids that it wasn't just exclusively built by slaves because it had to be, you know, there had to be architects and people who were invested in it, you know, and wanted to, you know, make it a beautiful thing. So same in this case. There's people who worked really hard to make it very beautiful. This is also the time of the Deccan famine, which was 1630 to 1632, where it was a few years of failed crops. So it isn't mentioned in a lot of information, but it does show that there's probably something else that happened where, like, if everyone's starving and you're spending a billion dollars on this building, like,

something's wrong. And people are probably, like, upset and, like, a lot of people are dying. You know what I mean? Taylor, you're probably going to get to this. Is it literally just a mausoleum? No, there's a couple other things in it as well. Like rooms, restaurants, hotel, like, there is. So, okay, wait, let me get to this. I will. Okay, if I'm stepping on your stories. No, no, no, no, no. Wait, I'm going to tell you one more fun thing. And then I'll tell you more about it. So one fun thing that I think we kind of alluded to is that because it's so big. It's like so big and so grand. They had to have scaffolding obviously and scaffolding is typically made of bamboo.

So like in ancient China, they had two story buildings because they could make really strong scaffolding out of bamboo before anybody else could. And so but in this case, the scaffolding was made out of bricks. And then when they were done, they were like, how are we going to get all these bricks? So they like put up a sign and they were like free bricks come and get them and it was gone in like a day. So they just let like other people take them, which is a great idea. So wait, so we'll talk about what it looks like and kind of what is what is in it.

So I did look on Google Maps to see where it was because if you look at like Google Maps of like Stonehenge, there's a parking lot right next to it, you know, and even like the Great Pyramids, you're like, oh, like a quarter of a mile away, there's a pizza hut, you know, and there's like the city. So it's not like it's like its own thing. But this is pretty encased in like some walls and there's beautiful gardens and then there's the Taj Mahal itself in the middle with like a fountain. Like that's the picture that you see all the time. time of people like sitting on the apartment with the Taj Mahal in the back. And it also has a big forest preserve next to it. So it is a little bit isolated. It's right next to a river as well. So it is a symmetrical building with a large white marble dome in the center, surrounded by four smaller domes. And then there's four minarets, which is like those big towers all around it.

And those aren't straight. They like turn a little bit to help protect them from earthquakes. So they want to make sure that like, are you looking at a picture of it? So I pulled up Google Maps to look up the location of Stonehenge. And then I also pulled up another tab to look up the location of Taj Mahal. And I was like, this map looks eerily familiar. And it pulled up the Taj Mahal Indian restaurant in Austin. So I have not found it yet. Correct.

So not that one. Go to Agra India. I'm sure there's a million Taj Mahal Indian restaurants. And I'm sure they're all delicious. But it's made of. So anyway, When you do see it, the four big towers around it, they're not straight up and down. They turn because they move in case of earthquakes, and which is like something that they do now with office buildings and skyscrapers.

The main structure is made of white marble, which is inlaid with intricate designs. So they have like writing from the Quran because it's a Muslim, you know, building made by Muslim. So it has writing from the Quran all around it. And it's not, because it's not Hindu, it's Muslim. And it has, it also has, like you were asking about other buildings. So there's also a smaller part that's made out of red sandstone. That's a mosque. So there's a mosque there as well.

I was going to say because the architecture, like, is just incredibly reminiscent of Arabic. Yeah. Architecture and mosque. Like it's, it's more, more, more vibes, moreish vibes than it is Indian vibes to me. It's beautiful. I'm looking at it right now. It is, it is next level. Yeah, that's exactly right.

That's because the, you know, the, the, the Mughal Empire was, you know, a Muslim empire that was going down and, you know, using their traditions and their architecture. But it also kind of blends with the native architecture as well to, you know, create, create this. But it does have a mosque in the back of it. And so all of the calligraphy around it is inlaid stone and marble. So it's not painted. It's like they cut out the words and then, like, you know, put them in a different color marble. So it's super beautiful and, like, last forever. in accordance with Muslim law no animals or humans are carved in the Taj Mahal so it's just like vegetation and words which I think is interesting because when you go to like the Vatican you see like 7,000 images of people like doing crazy things and it's just like people everywhere but in Taj Mahal it's not people it's just like the earth and then the words so it is a blend of Indian Persian and Islamic styles the symmetry is a big part of the design so like the middle tower the four towers and the four minarets around it. It's also, you're not supposed to have like a really fancy tomb in the Muslim belief system. So Chajahan and Muntas are actually buried underneath the Taj Mahal and like a very simple room. And there's like a fake sarcophagus above them where they're not buried. That's like part of like the more intricate part of it.

I'm saying. So some other cool things as it changes color during the day, like not really, but like the way the sunlight is on it. It turns pink. It turns pink. Yeah. Which is cool. And you can actually book a tour during the full moon as long as it isn't Ramadan.

But I'm sure that's beautiful as well because the full moon would be like super bright and you would see it. Taylor, can I interject one piece? Yes. So growing up, like I hadn't really gone to like Muslim funerals because like I wasn't really raised religious, right? Like it wasn't really a thing in my family. But I knew enough about like American culture to know the like you get like the velvet line casket with like it's just impenetrable beautiful oak this then the other gold railing and something like that. And when I've had family members pass and they wanted to get buried in Muslim and Muslim ground, it is literally just like plywood you would buy from Home Depot that the body is contained. And the entire idea, which I actually like the body's wrapped and it's washed and it's wrapped in like a fabric.

there's like rose water poured on it and stuff like that but it's really just like put into this like very shabby box i'm sure collapses under the weight of whatever dirt is being thrown on it what i loved about it was part of the the belief system is you know your body's not really yours it's yeah natures and the whole point is don't make something impenetrable so nothing gets your body you need your body to go back into nature totally this just reminded me of that no and i love that and i've actually, so I live in Joshua Tree and there's a Joshua Tree Cemetery. It's our memorial park. I can see it from my house. And they have a part of it where you can be buried like that, like without even the plywood. You're just wrapped in a shroud and they put you in the ground and

your family can come and like put rocks around where you're where you are and something crazy. And you know, become part of the earth again. And I definitely want to do that. Like I went to it and I stood in that area and I can see my house from there. And I was like, this is exactly what I want. This seems awesome. But yeah, I love that. Because otherwise you're, you're like, what, in your best suit in a coffin underground forever? That, yeah, I love going back to the earth part. That totally, like a simple burial place makes a lot of sense. Yeah, totally.

Yeah. Same page. Yeah. Right now, if you went to the Tajma Hall and there's, if you're looking on Google Maps, there's the buildings, and then there's beautiful gardens. So the gardens originally were like, you know, kind of overgrown, beautiful pollinator gardens with like very fragrant, very beautiful flowers. And of course, guess who ruined them?

need them boring. That's a tough one. I don't know the character's enough. The British. Because I wasn't going to guess that. We're about to get to the point, and I'm not going to be going to talk about this, where the East India Company is, you know, moving into India and about to, like, take over and, like, ruin everything.

So the British are on their way, and they do, like, redo the gardens to look like a typical European garden. But thankfully, they didn't do anything to the building. So the garden isn't exactly the way that it would have been when it was originally made. Right now, the biggest threat to the Taj Mahal is pollution. So you actually used to be able to drive up in front of it. You can't anymore. So they try to keep it clean and keep cars away from it and things like that because it's hard to damage the white marble, which is a bummer.

Yeah. And like the other stuff I have are like I have some fun facts and some conspiracy theories, but I just don't know a ton about this relationship between Moon Pasma Hall and Shah Jahan. I wish I knew more about it. But it's like she was a good wife. She went with him in military campaigns. he probably trusted her they had a fuck ton of kids and he loved her enough to build this building i wish i knew more if you if you find anything else so i googled tajmahal original because i thought maybe there'd be like paintings or something of like the original version of it before you said the

british showed up i google everything as you say it which is probably annoying with the keystrokes but like on the first page there's a picture of trump with milania on in front of that fountain And she is so happy to be there. And he could not look more annoyed. Like, why am I here? That's so funny. I feel like I never see her genuinely happy. So she's for her.

She's probably happy because she's in that location more than who she's with. Totally. So I have some final facts. So during World War II and during the Indo-Pakistani Wars in the 70s, Natasha Hall was camouflaged. to avoid it being destroyed. So they were worried that Japan was going to bomb the Taj Mahal during World War II. So I have a picture of it that I'll share.

They cover the dome in like bamboo sticks so you can't really see it. And then in the 70s they did like a thing with like a tarp over the top and like lines to the minarets and a whole thing. Sorry, which war? During World War II. Why would anyone, India wasn't in the war? I mean, everyone was in the war. It was a world war. And Japan was like coming that way.

I guess. I mean you guess. Japan was like destroying China and coming down through China. And then they were like, they wouldn't take over the worlds. Okay. You know what? I'm going to have to do my research on this because I did not know. I need you to Google the rape of Nanking because it's fucking terrible.

Was that World War II though? Mm-hmm. Okay. So that's where the disconnect is. I actually didn't realize that that was happening at the same time as everything else else was going on because to me it was like the access and allies were going to war. and the Chinese were not a part of the allies. Right.

No, they weren't, like, officially, but they were definitely being, like, invaded by Japan. You know what? I defer to you on history stuff. It's, like, right before, I'm looking it up. It says the Nanking Massacre was from in December, 1937 for six weeks. So it was like, that was the, like, the plan was to move westward. Okay. You know what?

I got a fact check in real time. Oh, my God. I'm real embarrassed because I'm sorry. I feel like I'm going to be wrong. But I'm pretty sure that's what happened. The Sino-Japanese War, that's what I need to look up. Sino-Japanese War. The second, you know what?

They were at war together. During that time. Yeah, they were not at World War. Japan obviously was fighting. So, okay. So Japan would have been fighting a two-front war. with the access. Yes.

And then also fighting China during the second Sino-Japanese War. That's what was going on. That was 1937 and 1945. I think World War II was 39 to 45. Yes, okay, that totally makes sense because the Nanking was earlier, so it must have been the second one that when they thought that they might bomb the casual hall.

Yeah, that makes, yeah, okay. All right, well, I'm gonna get a, I'm gonna get a really big, like, board and just do a bunch of like red lines together and like go crazy here. So you're technically not wrong. You got that timing exactly right. They just weren't a part of World War II.

Fine, fine, fine. I accept that. Sorry to do this. That's fair. No, no, no, it's fine. But something I wanted to also break up during that is I worked at the Brooklyn Museum for a little bit in college. And one of my jobs, because it was a terrible,

terrifying time to be in America, it was like 2003. So I looked in the archives of the Brooklyn Museum, like their communication archives, to figure out what they did with the art during World War II. And they brought it up to like a barn in Poughkeepsie and like hit it because they were worried that if the Nazis attacked New York, they were just throughout the art, which they did, you know, obviously all over Europe. So even in America, we had plans to hide our art. Wow. Yeah.

So I have some fun conspiracy theories. So there's one theory that it's actually not even built by Shah Jahan. It was an 11th century Hindu temple, which sounds really fun because I read the article that had like 150 reasons why it's actually Hindu temple. And it was like, people keep finding Hindu gods in like the corners. And there's all these like secret places where things look like they're actually more like of a Hindu origin than a Muslim origin. But then I read again and figured out that it's actually a kind of national. Right-Wing Indian conspiracy theory right now because they want to like reclaim it as a Hindu building when it isn't. So I don't think that's true. I think it's not.

You don't associate nationalism. Of course everybody's, of course every country has nationalists. Of course they do. No, I know. I thought that too. And I was like a right-wing conspiracy theory. What could I be? I was like, oh, it's like a nationalistic conspiracy theory trying to be like, oh, it's like a pure, you know, Indian place when it's not.

But it's from a part in history that, like, is super important. They, conspiracy theorists also think that there are 22 hidden rooms in the basement of the Taj Mahal, which might not be true. Some people say it's true. It's true. Some people doesn't. Would you spend a night in one of those rooms? Yes. No price.

There's no, there's no, you just have to, like, go in there and lay down a blanket and go to sleep. It doesn't feel ghosty to me. There's two dead bodies. No, I know, but it still doesn't feel ghosty. It feels like you'd be fine. I feel like I'd be more scared to be in like an old timey mansion full stuff. You know, like when I think of like haunted houses, I think of like, you know, like a big haunted mansion, not like a empty room in the bottom of a big building. So I disagree with you. And here's exactly what I would have done as I would research this. I would have questioned how many people died building the Taj Mahal? I know that's

right. I don't know. Died inside of it later on because there's got to be, to me, I feel like it would be a haunted place, but I'd still do it because the story's so good. The story's fantastic. I spent the night in the Taj Mahal. Yeah, of course. Incredible. Yeah. And there is also another conspiracy that Shah Jahan didn't want anyone to be able to recreate anything so beautiful. So he blinded all of the architects who worked on it. But I don't think that's true. Because like 20,000 people worked on it and like I was thinking of like the logistics of blinding 20,000 people and I feel like maybe the first one you'd be like I'm in charge by like 100 you'd be like this is gross and I'm standing next to 200 eyeballs and also yeah then you got to like

train 20,000 seeing eye dogs for them and this just exactly by 20,000 can't like the logistics alone exactly it sounds exhausting so there's no way that's true um another fun conspiracy theory that was actually brought forth like a French dude who visited India in like the early 1900s-ish was that Shah Jaham was planning to build an identical black building across the river for his own mausoleum which would have been so cool. That would have amazing. How dope would that be to have like a big, oh my God, like a big black Taj Mahal that was like that one, I'd be afraid to say the night in. That's super cool.

But that's probably not true. It's such a flex. Yeah. But that would be awesome. awesome. And that's it. That's all I know. I wish I knew more. And there's definitely like a whole part of the top of India and like the sweeping rulers and cons and all of that that came through there that I wish I knew more about. And I will eventually learn more about. But it's, if you look it up, it's going to tell you it's a love story. So let's just stick with that. That's a love story. That's that's all I ever knew about it. Like I wouldn't say that my, I would, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, would defer to like i'm probably best at american history followed by world war two world war one and then like the stories my dad has told me about iranian history but so i'm not like incredibly well-versed indian history the one thing i knew was that it was a it was a love story like he built

it for a woman that he loved and and i was actually surprised when you said that it's a muslim thing yeah i didn't know that or that it was persian that it had persian architectural influences i would of, I don't know, that seems relevant and never, never knew that. Yeah, and that's why, you know, why that the nationalistic thing is trying to make it be like, oh, it was there always a Hindu thing when it wasn't, but it was just a, it's a relic of a time of, you know, a lot of people taking over different parts of, of, you know, of Asia and in different ways, so. What was Blair's take on it when she was there?

I didn't. She, I know she went, she went on a really cool, she's a vegan. And she went on a tour from, like, vegetarian magazine, had, like, a thing where you could, like, join a group of other vegetarians and travel around India for, like, three weeks. That's really cool. Which sounds great and delicious. And so she came home and, you know, we learned how to make, like, chapati, like the bread and, like, all different kinds of, like, things. Because I took an Indian cooking class with my sister-in-law one time and I haven't had a book about curry. And it's super fun.

I had a roommate who was Indian in college. that was like the first time I'd ever really tried Indian food. And I was like, how do you make this? And she was like, it's all ingredients you've never heard of, you know? So you have to buy really special things to like make it, which is really cool. So when Blair came back, we did a lot of cooking with like, but you have to go to the store and buy like 16 new spices you've never heard of. And they're all expensive. And they're all expensive.

But it's, here in Joshua, we have two Indian markets. So I should go and get them. Yeah. We have a great, actually really good place called Sam's Indian food. and they sell pizza, sub sandwiches, and Indian food, and it's delicious. That's awesome. I would say that if I was forced to be vegan for just purely vegetarian, access to Indian food is the only way to go.

Yeah, absolutely. It's so flavorful and so rich and delicious. Yeah. So that's why she went, but I'm sure she has that same picture everybody has where they're sitting in front of the fountain and from the Taj Mahal. And I'm sure that was like a two-hour wait in line of people being like, that's on my way, I got to get a picture. Yeah, yeah.

Again, touristy things, not on my hit list. Taj Mahal, definitely not on my hit list, but it looks cool. Yeah. Yeah, last time I went to Florence, Italy, I was like, there are too many Americans here, so I get it. I did, um, I went to Lisbon last March, and I don't think I interacted with a single Portuguese person while I was there. It was, it was just Brits, uh, tons of Americans. Korean folks, like it was, it was just expats. It was just mostly like an expat part of the, part of the world now.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, but I don't know. Cool. It's cool that there's, you know, stuff that we didn't necessarily learn about in school, like a little bit deeper into these things and we'll keep talking about this thing. So any ideas anyone has of any, like, non-white stories I can tell. Please tell me.

Because I only have about 40 ideas. And if you want to do this for at least. for over a year, I'm going to need more. What is, is there a red flag in this? I feel like the part that I think could possibly be the red flag is building the building in general. Like, why did he have to do that? Like, he could have just been, you know, we're going to get buried together, which is beautiful

because they love each other. Like they, he didn't have to build this big building. So I feel like there's definitely an ulterior motive there that's not really talked about. And that must be like just showing everybody the power of the empire. could be love bombing it could be love bombing but she's dead that's true he'll be love bombing the people and also it's during that it's potentially during it's definitely during that plague time but also like he spent all his money on this thing and people were starving so that's not great yeah one billion dollars a lot the cowboy stadium costs 1.2 billion to build for context yeah is anyone buried in it

No. We'll never know. Miss opportunity. Is Tony Romo dead? He can be buried there? No, he's definitely not dead. Okay. Just a suggestion. I think that he could bury Tony Romo in Dallas, Cowboys Stadium, and lots of people would go. Yeah, yeah. I think Jimmy Hoff is supposed to be buried under the jet in just 50-yard line at the meadows, metal lands. That's awesome. Let's dig that up. Cool, Taylor. Well, I know that we are late because of me and we went over. so thank you again for your patience and next weekend 100% regular show recording schedule

like nothing on earth is going to stop me from from that okay okay well you tell that to the texas power grid and keep your fingers crossed fingers are crossed nothing will stop me have a great trip to florida and um yeah thank you everyone for listening follow us doomed to philpod on instagram and facebook thank you adjusts if you know if you know anything yeah we're getting some really great uh dms on facebook messenger from folks who are like giving us inside of stories that are obscure and interesting and cool that we can be covering so please more of those are always welcome so thank you yeah and please review on apple podcast that's been really cool and helpful as well yes all the things thank

thank you thanks taylor bye bye Thank you.