Amid all this uproar, what few pay attention to is the great humanitarian tragedy of the thousands of poor farmers and tribals, India’s most margianlised communities, who have been deprived of their homes and livelihoods thanks to this ambitious project Aijaz Zaka Syed Srinagar, Publish Date: Nov 8 2018 9:54PM | Updated Date: Nov 8 2018 9:54PMFile PhotoWhat’s with this obsession of powerful men with grand monuments? The biggest, largest and tallest…the more insecure a leader, the more grandiloquent is his vision of his legacy. Perhaps Freud could explain the psychological causes behind these magnificent obsessions and preoccupation with size. So Egypt’s pyramids had been more than mere last abodes of pharaohs and other members of the ruling class; they were the ultimate symbols of power and glory of a disappearing order that was supposed to inspire awe even in death. The grand mausoleums of Muslim monarchs like the iconic one belonging to emperor Humayun in Delhi and magnificent seven tombs of Qutub Shahi dynasty in Hyderabad probably fall in the same category. The Taj Mahal, the ultimate monument to love, is also a mausoleum and houses the remains of Shah Jahan’s beloved queen Mumtaz Mahal. The Mughal emperor who also built Delhi’s majestic Jama Masjid and the Red Fort and went nearly crazy pining for his late wife was finally buried next to his love. Matinee idol NT Rama Rao, who swept to power riding an unprecedented wave of popularity, had had his share of obsessions. He had 33… [Read full story]
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