Marbles of Romance: The Building of the Taj Mahal, 1632
In the summer of 1631, the most powerful empire on earth is brought to its knees not by war, but by grief. Empress Mumtaz Mahal is dead, and Emperor Shah Jahan, sovereign of a quarter of the world's people, sits upon his throne a changed man, his hair gone grey, his gaze distant, his sorrow pressing down upon the whole of the court. He has not abandoned his darbar, but he governs now through mourning, and the burden of the empire falls upon you: the princes, ministers, generals, architects, poets, and envoys who must guide a broken king and his realm toward stability or destruction, prosperity or ruin.
This is a court where every decision is a battle on four fronts at once. The emperor has resolved to honor his wife unlike anything the world has seen, talks of a marble mausoleum have emerged but orthodox clerics call it heresy, the treasury calls it ruin, and the marble itself must be dragged from Rajput quarries and bargained for with rivals and enemies. To the south, the Deccan wars grind on. To the northwest, Kandahar sits in Safavid hands, a wound to imperial honor that the grieving emperor now burns to reclaim in his beloved's memory. In Bengal, the european traders grow bolder by the month. And in the shadows, four young princes and their patrons begin a quiet game whose stakes are the throne itself.
Here, poetry is power, a painter can ruin a noble, and a jester hears every secret. Faith and ambition, romance and war, art and intrigue are inseparable. Whether the empire ascends to its golden age or crumbles into ruin rests in your hands. The emperor's eyes are upon you — even through his tears.
Siddharth Mitra
chair
Hailing from New Delhi, India, Siddharth is a second-year at the University of Chicago pursuing Economics and Political Science. He serves as a board-member of the Chicago Economic Forum; is a part of the Model UN team; and brings with him over seven years of experience from the Indian Model UN circuit—where he developed a strong interest in diplomacy, debate, and political economy (and probably picked up a few strong opinions along the way). He has previously served as a Crisis-Director for the Congress of Peru (1990) committee in ChoMUN XXIX, and is serving this year as a Crisis-Director for the Lobster-war committee at our Highschool conference MUNUC.
In his free time, Siddharth is an avid skier and a certified instructor who loves being out in the mountains and spending time in nature, he’s also a proud, card carrying member of the mountains-over-beaches club. He enjoys listening to Hozier, Leonard Cohen, The Goo Goo Dolls, and Cigarettes After Sex, along with a deep appreciation for Qawwali and Ghazals. When he’s not on the slopes or in committee, you’ll likely find Siddharth reading Thomas Mann or Fyodor Dostoevsky—or convincing people that the mountains are objectively the best place to be. He’s excited to be serving as your Chair and looks forward to the reenactment of this special-moment from his city's history.
Feel free to reach out with any questions at siddharthmitra@uchicago.edu.
Liza Aygul
Crisis director
Liza Aygul is a Chicago (suburbanian) native at the University of Chicago studying Statistics. When she's not buried in problem sets and probability distributions, you'll find her involved in the Data Science Society, Women in Stem, MUNUC, and intramural Badminton — keeping herself busy both on and off the court.
In her free time, Liza is an avid baker and a self-proclaimed rom-com connoisseur — 27 Dresses and Pretty Woman hold a permanent spot at the top of her watchlist. She also maintains a suspiciously varied music taste, toggling between Bossa Nova, Jazz, and Anatolian Rock. When she's not rewatching her favorites for the hundredth time, Liza is thrilled to be serving as your Crisis Director for Marbles of Romance: The Building of the Taj Mahal. One of history's greatest love stories deserves nothing less than your full dramatic energy, and she promises to bring hers.
Feel free to reach out with any questions at lizaygul@uchicago.edu.
Sanjay Gopalakrishnan
Crisis director
Sanjay Gopalakrishnan is a second-year student at UChicago studying Mathematics and Economics. Growing up in Bangalore, India, he did Model UN throughout middle and senior high school, as well as being a part of MUNUC and ChoMUN this year. As a man of many trades but good at none, he’s jumped between so many random activities that he struggles to even make a three-point list. Though one thing he is known for is his avid watching of stand-up comedy, which he actively studies in order to get inspiration for new material (as he claims). Some of his top recommendations have been Ricky Gervais, Azeem Bantawalla, and Rahul Subramanian. When he's not cycling through his next short-lived obsession, Sanjay is excited to be serving as your Crisis Director for Marbles of Romance: The Building of the Taj Mahal.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out at sanjayg@uchicago.edu.
Secretariat oversight:
ahmed bransi, under-secretary-general