Taj Mahal in New 7 Wonders of the world...so....what's the deal?

Now that the Taj Mahal made it to the New 7 Wonders of the World, I thought that the media hype it got and the crazy stuff people were doing all these weeks will come to an end. But I felt that my thoughts were gone for a toss. Seeing that the TV Channels and papers ,still talking about the Taj Mahal made me sick. Don't we have better news to hear?

As I mentioned above, all these days we saw people doing various crazy things to promote the Taj and now, they are celebrating the position of Taj in the New 7 Wonders of the World in more crazier ways. People organizing parties, playing with colors, bursting crackers, meetings, setting up hoardings and banners etc. But when I give it a thought, we are the people who built temples for heroes/heroines, do abhishekam's and pujas to heros idols and not to mention celebrate marriage of famous movie personalities (Abhi-Ash) as if the marriage is of someone in our family.

So celebrating the position of Taj Mahal in the New 7 Wonders of the World by us does not come as a shock. But when I think how much valuable time, money and resources are wasted on such things, I cannot accept the fact. Why does the media which created much hype in this scenario hiding the facts? All the Mobile Operators and TV Channels which promoted the campaign not thinking about the facts? Whay are they just thinking about the revenue they get and keeping the facts in the dark?

This is what you will see above the New 7 Wonders of the World list on the so called official website:

"The New7Wonders organization is happy to announce the following 7 candidates have been elected to represent global heritage throughout history."

Here is what he United Nations has to say:

In order to avoid any damaging confusion, UNESCO wishes to reaffirm that there is no link whatsoever between UNESCO’s World Heritage programme, which aims to protect world heritage, and the current campaign concerning “The New 7 Wonders of the World”.

This campaign was launched in 2000 as a private initiative by Bernard Weber, the idea being to encourage citizens around the world to select seven new wonders of the world by popular vote.

Although UNESCO was invited to support this project on several occasions, the Organizaton decided not to collaborate with Mr. Weber.

UNESCO’s objective and mandate is to assist countries in identifying, protecting and preserving World Heritage. Acknowledging the sentimental or emblematic value of sites and inscribing them on a new list is not enough. Scientific criteria must be defined, the quality of candidates evaluated, and legislative and management frameworks set up. The relevant authorities must also demonstrate commitment to these frameworks as well as to permanently monitoring the state of conservation of sites. The task is one of technical conservation and political persuasion. There is also a clear educational role with respect to the sites’ inherent value, the threats they face and what must be done to prevent their loss.

There is no comparison between Mr Weber’s mediatised campaign and the scientific and educational work resulting from the inscription of sites on UNESCO’s World Heritage List*. The list of the “7 New Wonders of the World” will be the result of a private undertaking, reflecting only the opinions of those with access to the internet and not the entire world. This initiative cannot, in any significant and sustainable manner, contribute to the preservation of sites elected by this public.

*New sites will be added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List during the 31st session of the World Heritage Committee in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 23 June to 2 July.

So, what do you think after reading the above statement from UN? Are you feeling cheated by a guy who wanted to make big bucks by hitting on National sentiments. I also feel the same as I also did vote.

As of now the New 7 Wonders of the World campaign came to an end but do you think this guy will stop here? no, not at all. Now they are starting "New 7 Wonders of Nature".

Are you going to fall for this, this time? I am not!!