Splendor amid Squalor
Just came back from a trip to India. Visited Jaipur and Agra. Saw the Taj Mahal for the first time- and it is a gorgeous piece of work. Should be on everyone's bucket list. An example of beautiful things men are capable of creating - and that too on a grand scale. When you visit the Qutb Minar - you also see excellence and superb attention to detail in construction. And yet - these places are surrounded by squalor. It is as if the people (and municipalities) are blind to the beauty amidst them. In Jaipur - the pink city - with its superb examples of architectural beauty .. one would think the local developers (and populace) would be inspired and would start a design renaissance .but no! A plethora of truly ugly buildings abound. More ugly buildings being built all the time. And these are people with money - who could afford better looking designs. You see structures with totally non functional, unfinished beams jutting out like broken bones disfiguring a body. One almost won