Not so many will know that the British colonial authorities exiled the last Mughal Emperor of India to live in anonymity in distant Burma. Bahadur Shah Zafar lived here, in Rangoon, with only his remaining immediate family around him (several sons and a grandson were shot), until his death in his late 80s in 1862. Not only was he the last king of a fabulously wealthy and far flung empire, he was also a Sufi saint and a mystic poet. His grave was deliberately unmarked so that he would be forgotten.
In 1991, during a building project, the grave was discovered and a memorial tomb built. While the available information states that pilgrims flock to this tomb at all times of the day, I found myself completely alone except for a sleeping guard. The twists and turns of human history are endlessly fascinating.
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