India, May 31 -- If you are a sensitive soul standing at the ramparts of Fatehpur Sikri, you will notice something strange in the howling winds rising from the arid land. The silently advancing desert echoes subdued moans of history. Emperor of India Jalaluddin Mohammed Akbar built and declared it the new capital city of the Mughal empire with a lot of fanfare. Sufi saint Sheikh Salim Chisti once resided there. Akbar had a son due to his blessings. A little distance from here are the plains of Kanvah, where Akbar's grandfather Zahiruddin Mohammad Babur defeated Rana Sanga to establish the Mughal empire.

What better site could he have chosen to establish a new capital of the nascent empire? But, then, what went wrong? The emperor defied n...