Where is Dara Shikoh’s tomb?

It is very sad that most will not know this. He lies unattended, neglected and forgotten…

Dara Shikoh undoubtedly was the most beloved prince of the Mughal period of the subcontinent, and it remains matter of intense debate as to how the subcontinent would been influenced if he, instead of Aurungzeb, was coronated. Aurungzeb was a petty fellow, a primitive who created lots of misery for the common people. It’s amazing therefore that you don’t really see much reference of Dara Shikoh in Indian history nor in public memory. Aurungzeb made every attempt to expunge him from the annals of history after he beheaded him, it seems the sickular (yep that’s new word and explains self serving elitist Indian pseudo secularism much better) forces too did the same thing to please the mullahs. So we have roads named after this insignificant man and much detailed elaboration in history textbooks too while Dara Shikoh languishes in some corner. Countries like Pakistan standing on deviant foundation will celebrate Aurungzeb, and they shouldn’t be surprised if the primitive beheaders are knocking the door. Aurungzeb was a degraded fellow whom even his elder sister (Jahanara who herself was much cultured) refers to as a ‘white snake’.

I was deeply anguished to see the tomb of Dara Shikoh at the precincts of much maintained and celebrated Humayun tomb. Not many know that this rather deliberately understated tomb –that stand in contrast to grand Humayun tomb, with no marble flower embroidery so on, is of Dara Shikoh. It is left dissected where the head is, probably to indicate that he was beheaded. Much ‘beautification’ has been done in and around Humayun’s tomb, even Agha Khan foundation chipping in (Agha Khan’s money pot incidentally is the product of royal-feudal entitlement reasons which could be traced to exploitation, a more sensitive government would have appropriated the property and declared it as national asset, the likes of Agha Khan &Co may not even find employment in call centre). There is no mention of Dara Shikoh anywhere, they have successfully carried out mullah’s worldview by denying Dara Shikoh his rightful place. Barbarian Aurungzeb beheaded Dara Shikoh while sickular India beheaded him from any form of decency. How is this society any different from barbarous past?

The picture herein is of Dara Shikoh’s tomb as also from a play on Dara Shikoh that i happen to see sometime back (wherein you see him discussing subtleties of philosophy while the arm guard is impatient for him to take up the role of ruthless soldier).    

English efficient engineers: we have already discussed the inefficient Indian bureaucracy and their English driven excellence that this country has to suffer. It is shocking that in careers that seek high level of technical competence there too we have this nonsense of English (as definition of competence). Indian Engineering Service (IES) exams that seeks to recruit engineers in government departments is conducted by UPSC (its inefficiency is too well known). They have a paper for English related skills carrying 100marks!! In a highly competitive exam this makes a significant difference. The bias is evident. I was travelling in a second class train compartment on an overnight journey and had got the Upper seat. It so happened that the fan was quite near and whenever I got up I risked hitting my head on the metal mesh that covered it. What made the matter worse was that these were pointed and jagged out (as you see in the picture). The worst did happen, I banged my head twice against this metal, as I got in a hurry to get up on approaching stations, getting bleeding wounds (not serious though). They could have easily seen this and designed a curved casing, it needs a minimal effort. What matters is attitude and intent, they just couldn’t place themselves in the shoes of the passengers. Clearly English skills trained excellence lacks basic understanding and something very necessary called empathy. Ever wondered why this high paid bureaucrats (and technocrats) with immense power are also quite incompetent and corrupt. Why English skill of engineers checked is beyond me!! It’s time to throw out these pointers of elitist colonial hangovers which is being fed as signs of competence.