Conditional Taj

The Taj Mahal has made it to the ‘new’ list of the Seven Wonders. Gee! And I thought we already had something there.
Its no secret that we, as Indians, sometimes get carried away in needlessly trying to impress the west. And anyone, especially someone of Anglo-Saxon origins, who understands that can make a lot of money just showering praises. Its a leftover vice from the colonial days.
What I want to know is what the New7Wonders Foundation is and how is it authorized to declare or deny the status of a monument in countries where it has no authority? Why do WE need its sanction to feel exhilarated over something that belongs to us in the first place?
There is no ‘official’ list of any seven wonders. It is simply by historically accepted names. The original list, started in second century BC, is 2,200 years old. And this new list makes no difference to that globally accepted norm.
Again, our naivety has cost us both in monetary terms as well as in organization of such concerted single minded efforts by so many.
There is no recognized international body behind this whole campaign. UNESCO, which actually does give recognition and support to monuments it declares as ‘World Heritage Sites’ around the world, stated that it is not involved in this project. Its just a hitherto unheard of website from Zurich and their Indian partners, also just a private organization looking to make a fast buck.
Though there was no official involvement from the government, many officials happily promoted the campaign in their private capacities. Why do we do this?
Its our monument and we know its worth. It’s a grand showcase of our capabilities. We are proud of it. Shouldn’t that be enough?
There’s a Hollywood flick which shows how easy it can be to take people for a ride; ‘Wag the Dog’ starring one of my favorite leads, DeNiro. Flood the media, make a theme, compose a song, create hysteria… and you have a new reality better than the original. And how we wagged our tails. We gave away our money, our time, our efforts and got nothing to show for it but our own pats on each other’s back. Late into the night, we celebrated our victory in an imaginary war against other monuments around the world.
Why were there 21 monuments contesting for the top 7 spot? Why not a hundred or just 7? Because then the votes would have been so diluted that it would not have been a ‘close contest’ or there would not have been a fight at all. Either way, it would not have been possible to create this mass hysteria to get people to send more SMS.
It also makes you wonder why the people from the actual list of globally accepted 7 wonders didn’t even bother to vote for their monuments. Did they know something we didn’t? Or did they just refuse to be conned?`
They have managed to do nothing more than sell our own monument back to us. And we bought it, hook, line and sinker.