To bag the honour of featuring in a new list of the seven wonders of the world, the Taj Mahal requires votes -- through calls, SMS messages or the internet. But, astonishingly, even though Indians own many population-related records, the greatest monument that a man has ever built for his wife is lying 20th in a list of 21 contenders. And time is ticking away. On the sixth of July, at the stroke of the midnight hour in Greenwich, the polling will be over.
On the seventh of July, at a glitzy declaration ceremony in Lisbon, the new seven wonders of the world, from the 21 finalists, will be announced. A global poll is in full swing. The Pyramids at the famous plateau of Giza in Egypt have already made it, the jury having decided that they are beyond contest. That leaves the other 20 contenders competing for six slots.
The real wonder is that the Taj Mahal is not getting enough votes to feature among the seven wonders, reports Mohammed Wajihuddin
Now, there is a global movement to choose the new seven wonders of the world. It is, in a way, a private enterprise but there is a structured international polling. Initiated by Swiss entrepreneur Bernard Weber, the polling is open to all, prince or pauper, from across the world. Kicking off the campaign in 2001, Weber's New7Wonders (N7W) Foundation, after scanning the aspirations of thousands of people, zeroed in on 77 nominations. The campaign made it mandatory that the structures must be man-made and be in a sufficient state of preservation. Ruins, no matter how well they were reconstructed, were kept out of the contest. In January 2006, former Director-General of UNESCO, Federico Mayor Zaragoza, announced a shortlist of 21 monuments. The Taj barely made it at the 20th spot. From January 2006, the final round of polling began to identify the top seven wonders. The prospects of the Taj have not been bright since.
The contenders
The Acropolis (Greece) Alhambra (Spain) Angkor (Cambodia) Chichen Itzá (Mexico) Christ Redeemer (Brazil) The Colosseum (Rome) Easter Island (Chile) Eiffel Tower (France) Great Wall of China (China) Hagia Sophia (Turkey) Kiyomizu Temple (Japan) Kremlin (Russia) Machu Picchu (Peru) Neuschwanstein Castle (Germany) Petra (Jordan) Pyramids of Giza (an Honorary New7Wonders Candidate) Statue of Liberty (USA) Stonehenge (United Kingdom) Sydney Opera House (Australia) Taj Mahal (India) Timbuktu (Mali)
(Source- TOI, June,03,2007)
