Amidst the blooming roses of firdaus, paradise, sat Shah Jehan, ‘Emperor of the World’ talking into his new iPhone in a state of high excitement. The Great Moghul, the greatest dealer in marble of all time, had always been tech savvy. It was through state-of-the-art pulleys that he had got all that stone transported from innards of the Markana mines to build the Taj Mahal, “the most perfect monument to love in the world”. News had just come in that his monument had a great chance of figuring in the new list of the Seven Wonders of the World thanks to 100 million SMS votes, cast largely by unemployed Indians. By his side sat his true love, his chand ka tukada, his piece-of-the-moon, Begum Arjumand Banu, known to the world as Mumtaz Mahal, the woman who bore him 14 children and died of the effort. Her cheeks reflected the hues and texture of the roses that surrounded her. The Emperor of the World adjusted the settings of his 16-inch Mead telescope again to get another look at his beloved monument down there on planet earth...

SHAH JEHAN: Damn, global warming and all that pollution! Just can’t get to see the Taj today of all days when our little playhouse is the talking point of the world.

MUMTAZ(pouting prettily): O my anwar, my light. You are so besotted by that horrible monument that you just have no time for Mumtaz anymore.

SHAH JEHAN: But, my bulbul, the Taj is You and You are the Taj. Why don’t you get it? Long years have we looked with yearning on her, imagining you before us.

... contd.