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Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status


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Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status http://www.new7wonders.com AGRA: The Taj Mahal has emerged as a strong contender for a place in the new list of the world?s seven wonders. The onion-domed mausoleum, commissioned by Mughal emperor Shahjahan in the 17th century, was selected from a shortlist of 200 monuments from across the world. It is now among the top 21 historical structures vying for the seven-wonder appellation. Some of the other monuments being considered are: the Easter Island Statues (Chile), the Great Wall (China), the Colosseum (Rome), Sydney Opera House (Australia), Statue of Liberty (USA), Acropolis (Greece), Alhambra (Spain), and Angkor Wat (Cambodia). The fresh list is being drawn up by an independent group called the New 7 Wonders Society. ?Most of the original wonders, other than the Pyramids of Egypt, do not exist structurally anymore,? said Bernard Weber, founder of the organisation. ?They have been either destroyed in conflicts or have been erased with time.? But Weber said the process of decay has been offset by the discovery of new structures from around the world. ?Hence the need to have a new list of seven wonders was felt.? The monuments have been shortlisted by the New 7 Wonders based on their uniqueness, beauty, engineering, and their reflection of art and culture. A panel of judges pruned the list from 200 to 77, and then to 21. The panel comprised Federico Mayor, former director-general of UNESCO, and prominent architects like Zaha Hadid (Great Britain), Tadao Ando (Japan) and Cesar Pelli (USA). The top seven will be decided by public voting ? open to people worldwide ? through the internet, phone, or SMS. To vote for the Taj, one needs to send the message ?Taj? by SMS to 6767. Votes can be cast online by logging on to www.new7wonders.com. Voting ends on July 6, 2007. The final seven will be declared at a function in Lisbon on July 7, 2007, a date that will read 07/07/07. Twenty Indian heritage sites were among the first 200 nominees. These included Mumbai?s Gateway of India and VT station, Madurai?s Meenakshi Temple, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and Delhi?s Red Fort and Qutub Minar.

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Guest dada_rocks

Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status I see it as symbol of exploitation of impoverished masses of India. It's not getitng my vote most certainly. It also is a symbolic harbinger of ebbing gap between east and west. You can't help noticing the contrast that exactly on the same timeline europe was emersed in the culture of industrial revolution while India under the sword of mughals forgetitng its innovative culture inquisitve past was loitering in the gawdy display of decadent culture where rich king wastes huge money leeched from poor starving public to erect this meaningless structure. Similar cases can be made for many structures in the list of seven wonders but at least monuments like pyramid have some mind-boggling enginnering feat to show for as opposed to taj whose only boast is insane amount of money spent.

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Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status if indians have to vote for taj to be considered one of the seven wonder, i really dont care if it is not..... i am sure, all the egyptians dont go around touting their pyramids to be in the top 7.... if it is, it is....if it aint, it aint...

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Guest dada_rocks

Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status

if indians have to vote for taj to be considered one of the seven wonder, i really dont care if it is not..... i am sure, all the egyptians dont go around touting their pyramids to be in the top 7.... if it is, it is....if it aint, it aint...
Pyramid is some engineering feat tajmahal is just an ode to wasteful spending on parts of moghal of the money looted from poor masses. If they want to go for aesthetics well then meenakshi temple deserves higer bidding
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Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status DR.... i am still not convinced, tht it was built by shah jahan... it was a shiva temple desecrated by the moghals by burying a woman in there.... there are a lot of points, i can talk about tht... it might need a separate thread another day....

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Guest dada_rocks

Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status

DR.... i am still not convinced, tht it was built by shah jahan... it was a shiva temple desecrated by the moghals by burying a woman in there.... there are a lot of points, i can talk about tht... it might need a separate thread another day....
Well let us not go there albeit u like to be called an extremist. :lmao: .There certainly is a very convincing case for that... BTW there is not much truth to the love-sick romantic image of shahjehan either he was a war monger in the genre of aruganjeb not that vicious . So whether he erected this structure from scratch or modified the existing temple in all probabaility it was meant for his own mausoleum. but let us not deprive hopeless romantics of this world with taj and lasociated love story saga..nothign is going to come out fo thsi exercise.. moreover that structure is bound to weather and just like other socalled mosques whose bricks after weathering of cements layer show the hindu god goddess carvings sooner or later taj real story too will get resolved.. There is hardly anything qutub about qutub Minar There is hardly anything arabic about arabic numerals.
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Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status i for one most definately think that the Taj is a deserving inclusion because of its masterpiece in architectural finesse. The Taj isnt a scientific marvel (though its proportionalities are pretty huge for its day and age) but rather a marvel of art- rarely have such finesse been displayed in sculpting, embossing, inlaying, etc. and even more rare are preserved specimens as fine as the Taj. It is also worth mentioning that the Mughals ushured in an era of cultural prosperity under Akbar that was maintained till Shah Jahan. Aurangzeb ruined that but India's ills cannot be blamed carte blanche on the Mughals. A lot of the scientific mentality was lost under previous Turkish muslim invasions and infact Akbar revived the sciences and culture considerably- ofcourse, Akbar's hard work was undone later and even then his work was just a drop in the bucket but IMO, too often are we to judge Indian history in 'black and white', lumping all the 'muslim rulers' of the north into one and the non-muslim ones into another. I dont care who built the Taj but its a masterpiece in architecture and it'll get my vote.

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Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status How many times are they going to beg for votes...? IMO Tajmahal is the symbol of exploitation and betrayal......don't care for a building that resulted in 1000s of labourours losing their arms. I see it as a decadent indulgence of a butcher emperor .....he built athe tajmahal for his queen who probably died giving birth to this idiots 16-17 children. You want to see the seventh wonder....ahead of agra there is a ghariyal farm where the ghariyal conservation work is going on.....Go there ....see ghariyals of all sizes being rescued(as eggs ) hatched and then released into the river....Beautiful......!!!!!

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Guest dada_rocks

Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status

i for one most definately think that the Taj is a deserving inclusion because of its masterpiece in architectural finesse. The Taj isnt a scientific marvel (though its proportionalities are pretty huge for its day and age) but rather a marvel of art- rarely have such finesse been displayed in sculpting, embossing, inlaying, etc. and even more rare are preserved specimens as fine as the Taj. It is also worth mentioning that the Mughals ushured in an era of cultural prosperity under Akbar that was maintained till Shah Jahan. Aurangzeb ruined that but India's ills cannot be blamed carte blanche on the Mughals. A lot of the scientific mentality was lost under previous Turkish muslim invasions and infact Akbar revived the sciences and culture considerably- ofcourse, Akbar's hard work was undone later and even then his work was just a drop in the bucket but IMO, too often are we to judge Indian history in 'black and white', lumping all the 'muslim rulers' of the north into one and the non-muslim ones into another. I dont care who built the Taj but its a masterpiece in architecture and it'll get my vote.
Khajuraho temple is bigger master piece and work of art ditto for meenkashi temple.. other than this and that stone from this and that place at an exorbitant cost it has nothing going for it.. I would love to know the scientific forays of akbar .. blank statments doesn't impress anyone
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Guest dada_rocks

Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status

i opened the coz i wanted to vote.... but after reading all thats written here...i wont for sure... cant even dream of arguing with dada rocks why i voted... :hic:
I don't bite maatu bhai :lmao: go ahead put your point across
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Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status well....i want it to be there coz i am a sucker for anything to do with india in the international arena.. i just love any positive attention that we get....if there is going to b chance for a indian monument to b recognised as one of the wonders of the world..i am all for it.. i may not know my history..but taj mahal has become the place to visit..so why not add it in the list.... :whistle:

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Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status all this is fine, Maatu... but i would first try to prove to the indian and international community tht it was our temple first, which was used to bury a muslim's wife than putting it as a wonder on the international stage.... the indian govt is facking sly.... i have been to Taj and they have never opened some of the doors ever since british rule.... word is, there are some idols and inscriptions which are the giveaways and will put the whole country on the edge...

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Guest dada_rocks

Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status

well....i want it to be there coz i am a sucker for anything to do with india in the international arena.. i just love any positive attention that we get....if there is going to b chance for a indian monument to b recognised as one of the wonders of the world..i am all for it.. i may not know my history..but taj mahal has become the place to visit..so why not add it in the list.... :whistle:
Can't debate this sentiment, but maatunga rest assured whether it's in the list of seven wonders or not Taj is and will remain known to all and sundry world over. There is no room for improvement in its advertising quotient.
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Guest dada_rocks

Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status

all this is fine, Maatu... but i would first try to prove to the indian and international community tht it was our temple first, which was used to bury a muslim's wife than putting it as a wonder on the international stage.... the indian govt is facking sly.... i have been to Taj and they have never opened some of the doors ever since british rule.... word is, there are some idols and inscriptions which are the giveaways and will put the whole country on the edge...
Yes they won't let u have a peep inside.... waise gator nothing is going to come out of this exercise other than some flared up riots...I love to take the bull by its horns provided something is at stake.
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Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status I for one would certainly support Taj Mahal as one the great monuments of India. I couldn't care less about getting Western compliment about the beauty of the Taj but quite simply because it is one of the things to be proud of as Indian. All these talk about extra money being spent on a monument does not hold enough water. The truth is that India was always a rich country, why else would everyone want to take a piece of it? Even in an Empire as might as British,where the sun never set, India was the jewel in the crown. I forget his name now but a famous Greek philopsher(Ptolemy perhaps?) had raised the cautious note in their Parliament that "If the balance of trade with India continues all the gold of the country would be lost to Indians".(note to self- need to dig that up). Suffice to say India was always rich. BUT. BUT BUT BUT. Indians were never rich. We need to get the demarcation there. Till about 17th century India had about 30% of world GDP. My stats are based on a New York Times research. If you want to read more please check out Nicholas Kristoff's Thunder from the East. Anyway India had world's 1/3rd GDP but Indians were not a rich lot. To make a compare, in the West today, say England, its not that England has 10% of GDP while people are poor. Thats one difference between richness of India and richness of West today. India's rich were Kings and Nawabs, and that was true for any religion - Hindu or Muslim. So its unfair to single out Muslim rulers in this regards. There is also the tendency of Indians, specially Hindus, to neglect their history. Why else do you think there are little written accounts of India? To trace Indian history you shall have to fall back on Western writers. That was true 1000 years back as it is today. But what specially peeves me is how we look after our historical monuments. Okay so Taj Mahal was built on a temple(for argument sake). What about Bodh Gaya? Arguably the greatest tourist spot for Buddhists? Why has it not been made a Jerusalem or a Mecca? What about Kamarupa or Vaishno Devi, or Benaras. We all love them but when was an earnest effort made to make them an Indian heritage? What about Ganges? I can go on and on forever. The only thing we are consistent about is not caring. We dont care for a Muslim monument and we dont care for Hindu monuments. We just dont care. Call us apathetic or pathetic..your call. xxxx

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Guest dada_rocks

Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status

I for one would certainly support Taj Mahal as one the great monuments of India. I couldn't care less about getting Western compliment about the beauty of the Taj but quite simply because it is one of the things to be proud of as Indian. All these talk about extra money being spent on a monument does not hold enough water. The truth is that India was always a rich country, why else would everyone want to take a piece of it? Even in an Empire as might as British,where the sun never set, India was the jewel in the crown. I forget his name now but a famous Greek philopsher(Ptolemy perhaps?) had raised the cautious note in their Parliament that "If the balance of trade with India continues all the gold of the country would be lost to Indians".(note to self- need to dig that up). Suffice to say India was always rich. BUT. BUT BUT BUT. Indians were never rich. We need to get the demarcation there. Till about 17th century India had about 30% of world GDP. My stats are based on a New York Times research. If you want to read more please check out Nicholas Kristoff's Thunder from the East. Anyway India had world's 1/3rd GDP but Indians were not a rich lot. To make a compare, in the West today, say England, its not that England has 10% of GDP while people are poor. Thats one difference between richness of India and richness of West today. India's rich were Kings and Nawabs, and that was true for any religion - Hindu or Muslim. So its unfair to single out Muslim rulers in this regards. There is also the tendency of Indians, specially Hindus, to neglect their history. Why else do you think there are little written accounts of India? To trace Indian history you shall have to fall back on Western writers. That was true 1000 years back as it is today. But what specially peeves me is how we look after our historical monuments. Okay so Taj Mahal was built on a temple(for argument sake). What about Bodh Gaya? Arguably the greatest tourist spot for Buddhists? Why has it not been made a Jerusalem or a Mecca? What about Kamarupa or Vaishno Devi, or Benaras. We all love them but when was an earnest effort made to make them an Indian heritage? What about Ganges? I can go on and on forever. The only thing we are consistent about is not caring. We dont care for a Muslim monument and we dont care for Hindu monuments. We just dont care. Call us apathetic or pathetic..your call. xxxx
U could not be more ill informed.. Go to google and look for tariff for tajmahal it will tell u where did it come from. Talkign of GDP in those days it used to be counted in terms of gold/jewel.precius stones. . this was precisely the decadent culture. what can u do with those. europeans were investing their resources in scientiic innovation while thugs in india were busy erecting tajamahal and listening to mujara wearing those precious jewels... All those things are indian heritage and if ur insinuation are why didn;t we erect taj like structure on those places well that's precisely I am opposed to; there are more earnest places where resources need to go and thankfully they are going. And yes India was jewel in the crown because such a vast fertile country used to give them enough revenues, it doesn't mean india was rich. British at lats for the sake of exploitation did somethign unlike muslim rulers who were happy with their jewel crowns and mujra festival erecting monuments like taj while rank and file were in precarious state. I would make one exception for that GT road fame ruler shershah suri..
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Guest dada_rocks

Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status

Dada ... this jaane do ... at the end Satya meva jayate will do justice ... etc etc kind of misplaced chivalry is the main reason of utter destruction in the last millenia .... gotta put an end to it.
I wud be the last person to indulge in chivalry but tajmahal even as lie is a cash cow [ this in no way jsustifies its intial cost not even in plain number terms forget about the overall negative impact paricualrly when u juxtapose it what rwest was busy with at that time] for indian tourism hence I make an exception for this. I don't think many people will visit once its status as an old temple is ratified people visit the place because they are sucker romantics. :lmao:
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Re: Taj Mahal needs your vote to retain Seven Wonder status

U could not be more ill informed.. Go to google and look for tariff for tajmahal it will tell u where did it come from. Talkign of GDP in those days it used to be counted in terms of gold/jewel.precius stones. . this was precisely the decadent culture. what can u do with those. europeans were investing their resources in scientiic innovation while thugs in india were busy erecting tajamahal and listening to mujara wearing those precious jewels... All those things are indian heritage and if ur insinuation are why didn;t we erect taj like structure on those places well that's precisely I am opposed to; there are more earnest places where resources need to go and thankfully they are going. And yes India was jewel in the crown because such a vast fertile country used to give them enough revenues, it doesn't mean india was rich. British at lats for the sake of exploitation did somethign unlike muslim rulers who were happy with their jewel crowns and mujra festival erecting monuments like taj while rank and file were in precarious state. I would make one exception for that GT road fame ruler shershah suri..
I am not quite sure if I received any meaningful critique there. Unless you beleive calling someone ill-informed is positive criticism that is. Now this is what you should do. Give me some substantial criticism. Tell me why you are singling out Muslim rulers. Maybe you can enlighten with what Hindu ruler have gifted to Indians as a legacy apart from making temples in every place possible? And what exactly Hindus have done to preserve their history(as also those of other religion). I shall await your response, maybe you can hold onto name-calling as well? xxx
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