[Reader-list] India fumes at duplicate Bangladeshi Taj Mahal

[Rana Dasgupta]

This was one of the rare stories in the current Indian newspapers that 
made me laugh.

Let's just hope they find what they're looking for when they look into 
copyright law.  Otherwise they'll still be fuming.

R



India's embassy in Bangladesh on Wednesday voiced its displeasure over a 
life-size copy of the Taj Mahal, saying it would investigate to see if 
any copyright laws had been breached.

"You can't just go and copy historical monuments," fumed a spokesman at 
the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.

"Someone will go out there and have a look. The reports we are reading 
say it is an exact replica. This is a protected site we are talking 
about so we need to find out if it really is the exact size," he told AFP.

Bangladeshi film director Ahsanullah Moni unveiled his $ 58 million 
replica, located about 30 kilometres (20 miles) northeast of the 
Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, this week.

Moni began building it five years ago but came up with the idea in 1980 
when he first visited the real "Monument to Love" in Agra, India.
He imported marble and granite from Italy, diamonds from Belgium and 
used 160 kilos (350 pounds) of bronze for the dome.

"Everyone dreams about seeing the Taj Mahal but very few Bangladeshis 
can make the trip because it's too expensive for them," he said.

The Taj Mahal was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, 
Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth in 1631.