Mughal's greatest hits

An afternoon on the Mall, and at the Freer Gallery, Mughal miniatures are the occasion for a tour offered by a visiting professor. At this talk, nearly a hundred people squeeze themselves into the jewel-like galleries to peer at small paintings on paper, scenes surrounded by fabulously opulent borders. In the crowd, a couple of scruffy students – sandals, long hair, nearly unshaven – ask about the origins of Sufism, the connection between art and history. A woman in white hijab anxious to distinguish the tension between Sufism and orthodox Islam in India – relatively mildly spicy – and in the Middle East – five alarm spicy. Another woman in crowd reads for the group the poetry of Mir Ali in Farsi, the unexpected cadence filling the cool dark rooms of the museum. And outside hot dogs and soft drinks sold off a wheeled cart and a carousel whisks small children to the tunes of John Philip Souza.