Taj Mahal & a Slum of Howrah

What is common between Taj Mahal & a dingy tenement in Howrah slum near Kolkata in West Bengal state of India?

Taj Mahal has been named one of the "New Wonders of the World" & here is "Sultana Begum", the 54-year-old great granddaughter-in-law of the last Mughal Emperor "Bahadur Shah Zafar", who was a direct descendent of Shah Jahan who built the Taj Mahal. Sultana's husband, late Mirza Mohd Bedar Bukht, was the direct descendant of Bahadur Shah Zafar and crown queen Zeenat Mehal.

"Sultana Begum" lives in her home in a West Bengal slum at Howrah. She lives in a 66 sq ft dingy room at Foreshore Road in Howrah district & is getting Indian Rs.400 ( US$ 10 ) as monthly pension from the Indian government.

Nevertheless, she was full of joy & happiness when marble mausoleum in Agra was named one of the "New Wonders of the World" in Lisbon.

'It was one of the happiest moments of my life. I stayed up till late in the night to watch the telecast of the results from Lisbon,' an ecstatic Sultana Begum said.

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