MORPARIA’S PAGE E-mail: [email protected] Contents AUGUST 2015 VOL.19/1 ○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○ THEME: Morparia’s page 2 Alternative Tourism The tourist flood 5 V. Gangadhar Tints of tourism 6 Managing Editor Akul Tripathi Mrs. Sucharita R. Hegde Yours medically, India 8 S. Saraswathi Border tourism is here! 10 Editor Brig. Suresh Chandra Sharma (retd.) Anuradha Dhareshwar Touring a slum 12 Disha Shetty Assistant Editor The legacy of heritage tourism 14 E.Vijayalakshmi Rajan Usha Hariprasad 6 Tourists in search of the ‘self’ (not selfie) 17 Rena Pathak Design Travel for a cause 19 H. V. Shiv Shankar Dr. Julie Richards A taste of real India 21 Marketing Dr. Mir Sofique Mahesh Kanojia Know India Better Wellness Abodes 23 OIOP Clubs Co-ordinator Gustasp and Jeroo Irani Vaibhav Palkar Gently flows the Cauvery 33 E. Vijayalakshmi Rajan Subscription In-Charge A surfing paradise called Mahabs 39 Nagesh Bangera 23 Liz Thottan Features The triumph of Beno Zephine 42 Meera Krishnankutty Advisory Board A report card of the Modi government 45 Sucharita Hegde P.M. Kamath Justice S. Radhakrishnan A labour of love 47 Venkat R. Chary Vithal C. Nadkarni Cultural Kaleidoscope What does the mangalsutra signify? 49 Printed & Published by Shoma A. Chatterji Mrs. Sucharita R. Hegde for Chhau – behind the mask 50 One India One People Foundation, Dr. Kanak Rele Mahalaxmi Chambers, 4th floor, 22, Bhulabhai Desai Road, Column 52 Nature watch : Bittu Sahgal Mumbai - 400 026 42 In focus : C.V. Aravind Tel: 022-2353 4400 Beno Zephine Young India 54 Fax: 022-2351 7544 e-mail: [email protected] Great Indians 56 [email protected] Printed at: Graphtone (India) Pvt. Ltd. A1 /319, Shah & Nahar Industrial Estate. S. J. Marg, Lower Parel (W) Mumbai – 400 013 visit us at: General P.P. Charles Correa Sister Nirmala www.oneindiaonepeople.com Kumarmangalam, www.facebook.com/oneindiaonepeoplefoundation DSO LETTERS TO THE EDITOR “Proud to read of the great achievers” I was very happy and proud to read of the great achievers who have quietly but very effectively made innovations with limited resources and created wealth and convenience for society and country (‘The Innovative Indian’, One India One People, July 2015). I have always been a strong believer in “Excellent issue” the creative and progressive thinking of the average Indian, who has learnt to live, survive and prosper in the most ‘The Innovative Indian’ (July 2015) is excellent. adverse circumstances. I have been a witness over the years The personal stories of committed individuals despite to many more such unsung heroes who have done wonders insurmountable odds (especially ‘The menstrual man’) are in terms of inventions, adaptations, ‘jugaad’ and have carved inspiring. Such entrepreneurs with passion and innovative out a new path where there was none. ideas need the backing of the society and banks. The only sad part is that these people not only do not get – Professor B. Ramesh Babu, Hyderabad their due recognition, they are at times harassed by corrupt officials, laughed at by society, and ridiculed by their own Errata: Milind Joshi, who wrote the theme article family members. What is needed is a change in the mindset of ‘Spurring the innovative mind’ in our July 2015 society where such unique people are recognised, appreciated issue, is an IIT Bombay alumnus and has worked and encouraged. I am sure the young generation of our country in the IT industry in India and the US. He is an has much more to offer us if given a level playing field. entrepreneur himself and has been mentoring – Dr. Ali Khwaja, B Tech (IIT), MIE, MIIM, Ph.D, startups in India and the US for over 10 years. Counsellor, writer and life skills coach He can be reached at [email protected] Letters should be addressed to Mumbai - 400 026 22, Bhulabhai Desai Road, Mahalaxmi Chambers, 4th floor, Foundation, One India People The Editor, 022-2351 7544 e-mail: [email protected] / [email protected] www.oneindiaonepeople.com 022 - 2353 4400 Fax: Tel: 4 ONE INDIA ONE PEOPLE August 2015 SATIRE The tourist fl ood After years of neglect India has woken up to its tourism potential. But this will be tourism with a difference, says V. Gangadhar. ANY nations survive on tourism. But for years we without his four brothers, noble wife and mother. have missed the bus. Now, there is hope. Agencies Mafter studying the tourism issue submitted detailed Rural Tourism: This is a god’s gift for the overall development notes to the Union government on improving the tourism of India. With never-ending drought, rural population potential. Let us have look at the details which include the declined drastically. This is exactly what the government problem areas. and its Ministry of Tourism wanted. More and more Indian rural population is migrating to the cities. Foreign tourists Medical Tourism: Befitting our size, India offers an amazing who had all along been inspired by classic rural-based films variety of medical tourism sites which should bring millions on Indian poverty like Pather Panchali, Mother India, and here. Every state offers its own brand of medical tourism. The Do Bigha Zaemeen, are now enthralled by new waves of number of cases steadily go up from thousands to lakhs, new rural cinema with mini-skirted extras flirting around with no diseases crop up, medical admissions shoot up. All these Manoj Kumar to control them. The new wave rural cinema is can raise the number of medical tourists to record levels. Let a major attraction in popularising rural tourism. us illustrate. Which metropolis gets affiliated with so many epidemics year after year, season after season. Mumbai Heritage Tourism: Time and again we are told of the rich this year reported sharp rise in malaria cases, dengue and cultural tourism in India which attracts millions of visitors higher immunity of mosquitos to DDT and other drugs. More to the country. Forget Mohen-je-daro or Harappa, today areas, more building sites, more flats mean more cases of there are hundreds of more new tourism sites which are malaria and dengue. The world was amazed at the increased appreciated the world over. These are due to the ingenuity opportunities for doctors, medical students, adulterated drugs of the Indian mind – its builders, contractors, planners and and so on. No wonder, the scope for medical tourism shot so on. We don’t know how old Taj Mahal is. But today up. By the way, Mumbai, we are told, secured the highest our genius builders can construct brand new Taj Mahals number of rat bites and BMC’s rat killer squads eliminated a which develop crack in five or six years because of the use record number of rodents, more than the Vietnamese killed of adulterated cement, malignant marble and so on. But by United States Marines in the Vietnam war! this becomes a boon for our tourism industry by displaying a new brand of ‘heritage culture’. The ‘redeveloped Taj’, Border Tourism: Another spectacular increase in tourism. the redeveloped 100-storeyed Leaning Tower of Pisa We do not know if this was due to the swearing in of a restaurant (copyrighted from the Italian original) located at new government. Formerly, border tourism was calculated Gandhinagar are exåmples. Included as heritage samples on the basis of protest notes sent by GOI to Pakistan are heroes displayed in statue forms –Shivaji (43), Gandhi government on the border incidents. Today, this has (102), Bal Thackeray (87) and so on. HeritageTourism in diversified with the ‘enemy’ diversifying his strategy. Over India has one hazard. The space is so and above protest notes, the government spread more overcrowded with Na Mo statues (we awareness on the topic creating more patriotic movies, lost count) that foreign visitors stumble songs, TV shows and so on. The process will get a further and fall down frequently. But a special fillip once Gajendra Chouhan, the famous ‘Yudhishtir’ of grant of ` 500 crores will soon solve Mahabharat serial fame is sworn in as the head of the FTII this problem. (Film and Television Institute of India). He will concentrate in the border areas and develop border tourism, with or The writer is a well-known satirist. ONE INDIA ONE PEOPLE August 2015 5 ALTERNATIVE TOURISM TintsTints ofof tourismtourism The cause célèbre in today’s world is uniqueness, which was not the case earlier when sameness and homogeneity were valued. Individuality and alternative options, whether of tourism, a set of events or a business, is back in our lives. But will this lead to real, big changes, only time will tell, says Akul Tripathi. LOBALISATION. The word has become old. It is so essence is the union of several, who chose one alternative, last decade. The fascination with a highly integrated the opportunities presented by such a market are, well, ad Gworld and nations is growing stale. The idea is now infinitum. As inheritors of an ancient way of life and having cliche. The globe has moved on. over the centuries infused several cultures into a lifestyle which However, the years in which the idea spanned research, continues to be an inseparable mixture of various cultural books and all sorts of media and artistic representation, it elements, there has always been more than one way of doing created an atmosphere for many experiments, which have a thing or finding a solution. From Gods to grandma’s get- left as much of an impact on the world as the printing press well-soon fixes, options have always abounded and this multiple did in medieval England. choice heritage is finding great resonance in a world where After a burst of realising how similar we global citizens globalisation and its largely Western derived consistencies are are and learning to connect with each other with scant falling by the wayside.