Perhaps no other city has made such significant contribution towards women empowerment and education. As you walk past the exquisite architectural wonders of Ahmedabad, you will come across the amalgamation of varied cultures: the Juma Masjid, for instance: it was the first in the world to allow women to pray at a mosque.

I asked a young man in a ghetto in Agra if he had ever seen the Taj Mahal. "Taj Mahal?" he said. "I haven't seen it, but yes, I have heard of it. It is in Delhi."

Royina Grewal's 'In the shadow of the Taj - a portrait of Agra'

Islam in India was spread much less by the sword then by the Sufis. After all Sufism with its holy men, visions and miracles, and its emphasis on indivisual search for union with god, has always borne remarkable similaraities to the mystrical side of Hinduism.Under Sufi influence it was particularly at the level of village folk worship that the two religions fused into one, with many ordinary Hindus visting the graves of Sufi Pirs, while Muslim villagers would leave offering at temples to ensure the birth of children and good harvests.

Ghalib wrote praising Benaras as the Mecca of India saying that he could "renounce the faith, take the Hindu rosary in hand, and tie a sacred thread around my waist".

Events die, but ideas never...