The new badshah who called himself Shah Jahan or King of the World was not as zalim as his father had been. Although he had killed his brothers’ families when he came on the throne, he did not hurt any one else. But Uncle Reloo who knew everything told me that like his father, grandfather and great-grandfather and others before them, this badshah also liked women. His favourite was a queen whom he kept pregnant from the day he married her. In the fourteen years they were married she had fourteen sons and daughters. She couldn’t take any more and died giving birth to her fourteenth child. The badshah was so sad that he decided to make the biggest and most beautiful grave over her body. This was very good news for the stonemasons of Paharganj. They moved to Agra. It took over twenty years to make. People who came from Agra said it was higher than our Qutub Minar and much more beautiful than the tomb of Badshah Humayun at Arab-ki-Sarai. One day Aunt Bimbo asked Uncle Reloo: ‘When I die, will you make a Taj Mahal for me?’ He replied: ‘You die first, we’ll talk about a Taj Mahal for you aferwards.’

Some years after he became king, this badshah, Shah Jahan, came to Dilli. He liked our city very much and said: ‘I am going to live here.’ He sent for his chief builder, Mukarram Khan, and told him: ‘Make a big fort along the river Jamna, and inside that fort make palaces for myself and my queens. I also want the biggest mosque in the word.’ Mukarram Khan bowed three times before the badshah and replied: ‘Badshah, peace be upon you! If Allah wills I will build you as big a fort as at Agra with as many canals and gardens and fountains. You will also have the world’s biggest and most beautiful mosque. I will build it on Bhojla Hill so it can be seen from Palam and Qutub.’ Then Mukarram Khan asked Ustad Ahmed and Ustad Hira to make maps. When that was done he asked the badshah to come to Dilli. Badshah, peace be upon you! Now put down the foundation stone, so we can get on with work.’

What years they were! Everyone got work. We gave up skinning dead cows and buffaloes and carrying other people’s shit. Lakhi Rai got a contract to supply labour. As I was now old enough, he gave me a job to carry mud and stones.