On “The Last Mughal” 3/3

I love this part:

“Sometimes, on winter afternoon walks, I wander to the lovely deeply atmospheric ruins of Zafar’s fabulous summer palace in Mehrauli, a short distance from my Delhi house,   and as I look out from its great gateway, I wonder what Zafar would have made of all this. Looking down over the Sufi shrine that abuts his palace, I suspect he would somehow have managed to make his peace with the fast changing cyber-India of call centres, software parks and back office processing units that are now slowly overpowering the last remnants of his world. After all, realism and acceptance were always qualities Zafar excelled in. For all the tragedy of his life, he was able to see that the world continued to turn, and that however much the dogs might bark, the great caravan of life continues moves on.   As he wrote in a poem shortly after his imprisonment, and as Mughal Delhi lay in ruins around him:

Delhi was once a paradise,
Where Love held sway and reigned;
But its charm lies ravished now
And only ruins remain.

No tears were shed when shroudless they
Were laid in common graves;
No prayers were read for the noble dead,
Unmarked remain their graves

But things cannot remain, O Zafar,
Thus for who can tell?
Through God’s great mercy and the Prophet
All may yet be well.”

Cont. [1] [2] [3]