Taj more stunning than I expected: Zuckerberg after low-key visit

Facebook’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg made a nondescript visit to the Taj Mahal on Tuesday and later said “it is even more stunning than I expected”.

Updated on: Oct 27, 2015, 18:33:32 IST

Hindustan Times | By Hemendra Chaturvedi, Agra

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Facebook’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg made a nondescript visit to the Taj Mahal on Tuesday and later said “it is even more stunning than I expected”.

Mark Zuckerberg at the Taj Mahal in Agra on Tuesday. (Facebook)

Zuckerberg, who hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month at the Facebook headquarters, is scheduled to hold a Townhall question-and-answer session at the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi on Wednesday.

“I’m in India for our Townhall Q&A tomorrow (Wednesday), and I decided to visit the Taj Mahal. I’ve always wanted to see this… It is even more stunning than I expected. It’s incredible what people can build -- and what love can motivate us to build,” Zuckerberg posted on Facebook along with his picture in front of the monument of love.

I'm in India for our Townhall Q&A tomorrow, and I decided to visit the Taj Mahal. I've always wanted to see this.It is...
Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday, October 27, 2015

In his low-key visit to the Taj Mahal, Zuckerberg visited Agra without any security profile around noon and left around an hour later, unnoticed by the local media.

“It was not an official visit, which is often notified by the additional district magistrate (protocol). As such, we had no information about the visit” Ram Ratan, conservation assistant for ASI at the Taj Mahal, said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hemendra Chaturvedi
Hemendra Chaturvedi is a senior journalist based at Agra. He covers eight districts of Agra and Aligarh division namely Agra, Mathura, Mainpuri, Firozabad, Aligarh, Etah, Kasganj and Hathras. He had been with HT since 1992 and has completed three decades of association with HT and has worked for Hindustan Times only all through his career of about 35 years. Having Masters in Chemistry, Hemendra is also a law graduate with diploma in Personnel Management and has utilised broad based academic qualifications in his indepth, accurate and high impact stories from this part of western Uttar Pradesh while being based in the city of Taj Mahal. In such long span of career with Hindustan Times, Hemendra Chaturvedi has led his team of reporters which was instrumental in bringing out supplements including Region Scan, Agra Live, HT City time to time and proven his leadership qualities and has made presence of HT felt in the region covered by him. In the process of time, Hemendra has attained expertise in a variety of beats, being sole reporter for HT and has covered Aligarh Muslim University, Taj Mahal centric tourism, religiously sensitive city of Mathura and had been witness to Agra Summit having attendance of top leaders of India and Pakistan.Read More