An unlikely bird sanctuary

These pictures were taken last December (2010), not at any regular bird sanctuary, but right in the middle of a town; right besides a world-renowned monument. Any guesses where? These were taken from the Taj Mahal, into the Yamuna river which flows right behind. We had gone to the Bharatpur bird sanctuary, and where  disappointed …

Shah Jahan’s fourteenth child

Everyone knows that the Taj Mahal was built as the Mausoleum of Mumtaz Mahal (born Arjumand Banu Begum) by Shah Jehan. Everyone also knows that Mumtaz died giving birth to their fourteenth child. Who was this fourteenth child? Was it a boy or a girl? What happened to him or her? Nothing much is known …