TRUMPS PATIENT LISTENERS, INQUISITIVE, SAYS TAJ GUIDE

AGRA: Nitin Singh, the 36-yearold guide who showed Donald Trump and his family around at the Taj Mahal on Monday, said the US president appreciated the monument and promised to return to see it again.

“It was an unforgettable experience for me. I was guiding the most powerful man in the world and yet found the [first] couple so humble and inquisitive about history and architecture of this 17th-century marvel,” said Singh.

Singh has shown heads of state and governments like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his Canadian counterpart, Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron and his Brazilian counterpart, Jair Bolsonaro, around at the monument.

“But this time, it was totally different experience and I felt the pressure although I was not nervous. But my task was made easy because of the guests, who turned out to be humble and patient listeners,” said the 36-year-old guide.

He added they asked him where the marble for the Taj came from, its construction period and about the symmetry of the architecture.

“I told them about the Charbagh pattern having gardens, a concept from Persian architecture that was introduced by the founder of the Mughal dynasty, Emperor Babar,” he said. Singh explained how the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal, was imprisoned by his son, Aurangzeb, when Trump’s wife, Melania, asked him about it.

He also told the guests about how the Mughal rule ended following Bahadur Shah Zafar’s reign.

Singh said they also had queries about the inlay work and other finer aspects of the Taj Mahal and appreciated the way the monument was being maintained.

“A visibly impressed US President expressed willingness to visit the monument again,” the 36-year-old guide Nitin Singh said.