I wonder why the Taj is a wonder!

In the last one and half years, we could get to travel to a few historic places (thanks to wife's interest in them!). And amongst all of them, the one that was most boring was the Taj Mahal! Yes, I said it! 

Since our visit to the Taj Mahal a couple of weeks, we keep on thinking - why exactly is a wonder? Wonder of the world that too! 

Wiki Answers webpage gives this reason: 

The Taj Mahal is a unique, massive, impressive architectural accomplishment of it's time, 55 meters high. The Statue of Liberty could fit inside it easily (46m).

It is considered by many who have seen it to be the most beautiful building ever built. The date of its completion plus the reason for its existence, add to the wondrous nature of the structure.

Unique? Let's sample something unique below:

This picture is from Ellora Caves. The Kailashnath temple here has been carved out of a single rock, from the top! 

There are more pictures that I can post, but this whole place is amazing beyond description. The attention to detail at so many places inside the "cave", the designs, the paintings, the artchitecture etc were so mesmerizing - and guess what - this is Unique too! I wondered then, why this is not a wonder of the world.  Another example of some amazing carvings:

At this point of time, I hadn't visited the Taj Mahal. We covered Ajantha caves by then. Out of all the caves at both Ajantha and Ellora, this one stood out. In case you forgot, this was carved from the top! So just imagine the effort and thought process that must have gone into the planning and execution of this superb project back in the 7th century (Taj Mahal is a 15th century construction!). And sadly, this is not a wonder of the world. 

Anyways, let's come back to Wiki Answer. Massive, impressive architectural accomplishment. 

Take a look at the Amber Palace near Jaipur. 

Massive, right? Impressive, right? Architectural accomplishment, right? No, not happy? Fine, take a look at the Mehrangarh fort in Jodhpur. 

Let's zoom in a bit, just in case you are not able to gauge the massiveness of this fort.

At many places, you wouldn't know where the mountain rock is ending and the fort wall begins - such is the beauty of this fort. 

I have many more pictures that I took of these palaces and forts in a recent vacation - was bowled over by the details of planning (that included rain-water harvesting methods, drinking water canals, huge canons, strong walls, etc) that went into the construction of these places. I am pretty sure there are many more such massive, impressive, architectural accomplishments in the country - and most importantly, all of them have multiple stories and sacrifices associated with them. 

And these were all constructed before the Taj Mahal. So I still keep wondering - why is the Taj Mahal a wonder of the world? "Symbol of Love" seems to be a very very stupid reason. So anything else? Or did it just get lucky with the hype of being a "symbol of love"? 

Next time, someone sends me a mail asking to vote for Taj Mahal - they are going to the link to this post! 

For completeness sake, here's a picture of Taj Mahal we took - It is huge, no doubt about it, but that's about it. 

Some thoughts on KBC :)

For the past 3-4 weeks, I have been watching Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC)-5 in awe. Sometimes the episode gets very inspiring too. And the reason is simple - the nature and the background of all the contestants on this show. The past 4 seasons of this show had mostly contestants from a normal background leading a decent life with not too many troubles throught their life. This season has opened up a totally different window. We could get to hear the story of an young man who met with an unfortunate accident and got paralysed neck down. His poise despite such a catastrophy was such a delight to watch. He won Rs. 12,50,000/- that night, and the sense of achievement and pride in his and his father's eyes is difficult to describe.

We have even got to see and learn about the lives of housewives; teachers from rural areas;physically handicapped yet mentally strong people; folks from small towns; folks with jobs that don't pay much (especially the guy who picks calls for ambulance service... remember him? :) He asked 3 interesting questions to Amitabh himself!!) - in total, we got exposed to a whole new world out there. A world most of us thought is difficult to exist. I don't mean to say that we did not know such people existed. What I meant is that most of us surely did not know that these people also read a lot, discuss stuff and have a good amount of information on general/current affairs. And this is despite their living and growing up conditions - I think that is the biggest reason I have been in awe of this season.

Not just their stories, but even the way they conduct themselves on the show has been very nice. And I must say, Amitabh Bachchan as the show host has been very very gracious while interacting with these contestants. The subtle humour that flows from both the contestants and BigB, all along the program has been another treat.

Maybe a few might feel that this season is more like a melodrama. But what I got to see was reality - the harsh reality under which these folks live their life everyday. Listening to the accounts of tragedy in some of the contestant's lives just confirms how unpredictable and cruel life can be. I don't wish to lecture and all that, but I think watching these folks on TV only strengthened my belief that as long as we are capable of doing good, we should continue to do it. Making a difference in just one life is a feeling that will stay with you for life - we only need to put in a little extra effort to experience that feeling :)

Waiting in vain, for the elusive rain :(

Every morning I wake up with the hope that the sky will be cloudy, and the weather will be ideal for the drive to office. And every morning, my hope just lingers on!

It's already July 1st, and Hyderabad is yet to recieve good amount of monsoon rainfall. There were intermittent showers that lasted for a "full" 15-30 minutes! These were good enough to throw the traffic system out of gear, but were no where close to refreshing the sultrly, hot and disgusting weather we have been experiencing from like 3-4 months (or maybe more?)

Monsoon was expected much much earlier ... some cyclone threw the mositure out of the upper layer it seems :( . Whatever the reason, the wait is getting too long and too sad!

Monsoon ... pleasee.. come soon !