Loving husband recreates historic monument for his wife
A devoted husband has built a huge gift for his wife in an unusual form: a replica of the Taj Mahal.
Anand Prakash Chouksey recreated the famous palace for his wife, Manjusha, in a scaled-down version that cost about 20 million rupees ($AUD 370,000) to complete.
Mr Chouksey brought in artisans and sculptors from across the country to construct the huge present, and his wife had only one request for what should be included.
“She wanted a good meditation room. It is in the best location inside [the] house. Since it is a dome-styled house, it is ideal for meditation and peaceful relaxation,” Chouksey told Reuters.
With her request in mind, Mr Chouksey told his engineers to “put a special focus on the meditation room”.
But, the miniature version of the hugely popular tourist attraction comes with more than just a meditation room, boasting four bedrooms, a library, and an intricately carved white domed roof.
To construct it, the Chouksey family visited it in Agra, India - where it was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as an act of love and a mausoleum for his own wife - and used photos from the internet to scale down the measurements.
“We wanted to make an exact miniature version of the Taj Mahal, perfectly to scale, to the centimetre,” Mr Chouksey’s son, Kabir, said. “So, we had to build and demolish and rebuild the walls multiple times to bring it to perfection. We had to rebuild some arches three to four times because there was some difference, sometimes the difference was so tiny that it’s negligible to the eye. But we thought that since we are building something good then there should not be any missed opportunity or any regret.”
Despite the grandiose gift, Mr Chouksey says his wife generally approves of him.
“She is happy with me in every situation, all ups and downs,” he said. “She always supports me irrespective of my gift.”
The miniature Taj Mahal is open to visitors during school hours.
Images: Getty Images