A True Story:

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Razia Balki was a beautiful poetess in Northern Afghanistan some hundreds and hundreds of years ago.

She fell in love with a slave and her enraged brother cut her wrists.

She wrote her last poem lying in a pool of blood. Today, she is worshipped by teenagers as a saint.

They pray for success in their love affairs.

A True Story

Some real life love stories touch me. They are even better than fairy tales.

My sister use to study in France in a place called Nantes.
She would tell me of a lady who was 80 years old.

The lady was my sister’s pal. One day my sister happened to see her photo album. There was her pic when she was 18 years old, a  beautiful romantic age.

And she was a beautiful young woman too.

My sister asked her why she did not marry. The lady must have surely had the most wealthiest and handsomest guys trying to win her heart and hand,

No.

When she was 18 she was in love with a soldier who was 21 years of age. He went to war and died  ( World War I)

She loved him so much that she could not think of marrying anyone else ever again. And she didn’t.

She’s my ideal of what true love should be.

I would have loved to  touch her feet in salute.

Ma’am ! what a lovely and strong  woman you  are.

The Taj Mahal
Built in 1632, nothing in this universe is quite like the Taj.
Located at Agra in India, it is one of the most magnificent monuments the world has ever seen. For every romantic in the world it is an inspiration.

The Taj takes you back in time when the Mughal Emperor Shah Jehan’s wife Noor Jehan (also known as Mumtaz Mahal) died leaving Shah Jehan deeply grieving. His undying love for his wife translated into the creation of the taj Mahal where thousands of artisans and craftsmen were employed to build this great mausoleum. Such was his love that he would watch the Taj from his death bed at the fort.

The Taj Mahal, it’s romantic folklore, legends and timeless beauty is one of the finest examples of Moghul architecture and culture.

Noor Jehan means ‘Light of the world’

Emperor Shah Jahan himself described the Taj in these words:
Should guilty seek asylum here,
Like one pardoned, he becomes free from sin.
Should a sinner make his way to this mansion,
All his past sins are to be washed away.
The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs;
And the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes.
In this world this edifice has been made;
To display thereby the creator’s glory.
Jab raath ki anchal leharaye
Aur sari alam so jaye
Tu mujse milne Kshama jala kar
Taj Mahal pe aa jana

Translation:

When the stars in the night twinkle
And the whole world is asleep
Come to meet me with a lamp in your hand
Come to the Taj Mahal