For six months we saw more pictures of the Taj Mahal on television spots, billboards and in print than we probably have in years.
School children waved banners and passed out leaflets requesting folks to vote. Young men had a sketch of the Taj carved on their fingernails. And folks dressed up in strange costumes to promote the monument of love. Kiosks were set up in malls to garner SMS votes.
It did not matter that cynics all over pointed out that the Swiss firm, headed by explorer-entrepreneur Bernard Weber, promoting the New Seven Wonders of the World campaign was making hefty earnings out of our national pride. Or that the UN agency, UNESCO, which works towards preservation of international monuments, did not endorse the campaign.
Even the Union ministry of tourism saw the campaign as an opportunity to promote more traffic to the mausoleum in Agra, which gets three million tourists a year, and added their weight behind the campaign. Amitabh Kant, then joint secretary, Union ministry of tourism, declared: 'We will ensure that the Taj makes it to the list.'
Also see: The Taj on IShare
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