New Seven Wonders and the Taj Mahal

In the last few weeks, there have been campaigns all over India that have focussed mainly on pushing people to vote in favour of selecting the Taj Mahal as one of the 'New Seven Wonders'. Ok, for poeple who do not know what the old seven wonders are; but infact i'm myself confused as to what the Seven wonders of the world really refer to...There are

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
Modern Wonders of the world
Underwater wonders
Natural wonders
Tourist travel wonders

I'm not going to list out each of the 'Wonder lists' .. u can check them out here.
Well, anyways, i guess the New seven wonders refers to the tourist wonder list; and the only candidate most of the people in India would know about, and some people would've actually seen, is, of course, our very own supposed 'monument of love', that which Shahjahan built in the memory of, and as a tomb for, his dead wife Mumtaz. Supposing i ask some average guy in Tamil Nadu what Shahjahan and Mumtaz were, they would probably tell me about the Vijay movie and the glam actress. Anyways. Mumtaz Begum was not the only wife of Shahjahan either. There was no shortage of wives amongst the 17th century emperors, i guess.

Ok, so what comes to ur mind first when thinking of the Taj Mahal? Many would say they feel love, but that is just bull-shit. I, for one, think of another Taj Mahal, the stupid movie with the pig-like hero and lizard-like heroine, and the father-pig for director, but absolutely mind-blowing and evergreen music by the GOD of music ARR.

Incidentally, A.R.Rahman played a part in getting the Taj into the new seven wonders list. He created a song for motivating Indians to understand that 'Teri aur meri Mohabbat Ek hai', or 'Un kadhalum endhan kadhalum ondrallava', and hence vote for the Taj. I personally feel that the theme shouldn't have been the universal nature of love across many barriers, but rather the spirit that the Taj Mahal belongs to us Indians, and we should not let down something that our country is so closely associated with on the world stage. I voted for this reason, and also cos it was a cause promoted by ARR. EMI and Virgin music have brought out an album titled 'One Love', containing versions of the Ek mohabbat song in six languages.

I'm personally very glad that the Taj has made it to the final list, but am sure terribly discombobulated by the fact that Bipasha Basu has represented India in this supposedly grand function unveiling the new list, for reasons i'm quite sure most of you know and will agree whole-heartedly with.

The New Seven Wonders are : Taj Mahal, Great Wall of China, Pyramids Of Giza, Petra in Jordan, Christ the Redeemer in Brazil, Machu Pichchu in Peru, Chichen Itza in Mexico, and The Colloseum in Rome. Check out more details over here and here.

Si-Va-Ji ... Summa Adirudhule!!!!

My semester holidays are drawing to a close, i'm leaving Chennai in two days, and am feeling a mixture of emotions. The whole of almost 60 days were spent in an exceedingly jobless way; and i can say with confidence that there were mainly one person who kept me occupied in the holidays: The B.O.S.S (Box Office SuperStar) Rajini. Sivaji released on June 15th, and i have watched it six times as of now; the last time being 6th July. A lot of people think i'm crazy for this, and i would like to clarify it right now... when i don't have a problem spending cash on the ticket each time, and enjoy the movie no matter how many times i see it...what the **** is others' problem? Only a true Rajini fan would understand the thrill of seeing Thalaivar on the big screen; waiting for those punch-scenes, the style-scenes; impatiently sitting through the parts Thalaivar does not appear. Heck, a Rajini movie comes once in two or three years, I don't even know where i will be (I would've probably finished college) when the next festival hits the screens. That is one of the reasons i was quite bent upon seeing this movie somehow on the first day. And see it I did. Once on 14th June at 10.30 PM in Rohini theatre, next on 15th June at 6.15PM in Santham, next on 18th June at 10.45AM in Santham, then on 23rd June at 11AM in Albert, next on 29th June at 11.30AM in Abirami, and lastly in Santham again on 6th July at 2.45PM. I never felt bored even for a moment in these 23-odd hours i have spent in the theatre.
Post 15th June, if it was watching Sivaji that kept me occupied and excited and going, before that it was the Soundtrack, the trailer that came out on June 15th and quite plainly, the imminent air of expectations and excitement that surrounds a Rajini movie release. Apart from Rajini, A.R.Rahman was the man who single handedly made me spend all those morning hours at home without any boredom; he so casually left me spell-bound and swaying with the magic he creates. If you ask me to single out an A.R.Rahman favourite, i would probably give you a list of 500 songs at the minimum. Jhoom Jhoom thananana Jhoom thananana went my speakers most of the time, my current favourite is the Ek Mohabbat song. Along with this and my other all-time favourites, time-pass became exceedingly easy.

Sivaji has broken records all over the world, has already grossed far in excess of 100 crore rupees; this is reason enough for me to celebrate ... By watching Sivaji again!!! Adios, my friends, I now am faced with the difficult task of trying to book a Sivaji ticket...believe me, it is still very difficult to do so, though its been past three weeks since the movie released.