This is another topic that I have been wanting to blog about, Indians as travellers. Ever since our current PM, Manmohan Singh unshackled the Indian economy in 1991, the general prosperity of the Indian people has increased many-fold and these upwardly mobile mass of people have taken to travel, within the country as well as internationally with a vengeance that knows no bounds. This is exemplified by some amazing instances I had during my extensive travels in Europe and US. I had been to Junfraujoch in Switzerland, the highest railway station of Europe and readers will be amazed if I tell them that the smell of Indian curry pervades the entire station due to the presence of an Indian restaurant on top. At some places in the station, one will find instructions written in Gujarati, that just goes to show the number of Indians visiting Junfraujoch. In a small place like Interlaken, again in Switzerland, there are two Indian restaurants. One of my colleagues had been to Innsbruck in Austria and the first question he got asked by a shop-keeper was " Which film crew do you belong to?". Choose a tourist spot in the world and if the place is not too expensive (the extremely cost-conscious people that we are), there is little chance that an Indian has not visited there. One of my friends called Niagara Falls, "Desis Kashi", since most Indians who visit the USA, do visit the Niagara Falls.
The other amazing fact is that Indians of all ages are traveling. I was aghast, when during the trip back from Mt Titlis in the revolving cable car, I heard a group of elderly ladies and gentleman at least in their sixties, with the ladies awkwardly wearing their Salwar suits borrowed from their daughters/daughters-in-law actually speaking Marathi. Believe me its an amazing feeling to find Aiswarya Rai's photo inside a Swiss train. But the thing I want to talk about is in this blog is, "Do we make good travellers?". I would rather hesitantly say, "We don't".
First of all, being used to poor service at home (I must say this is changing, but...), we tend to be impolite, sometimes even bordering on being rude. Just look at the way air-hostesses/stewards treat Indians and you will know what I mean. We just don't mind our "Pleases" and "Thank-yous" well enough. I know, in our culture, gratefulness is expressed by doing something for the person, who helped you out, but c'mon, "In Rome do as the Romans do". So if it means, saying "Thanks" and "Sorry", many times do so. I had this co-passenger on one of my flights to the US, constantly demand a "Cold Drink" (First of all, on an American flight, no one will understand, what that means). But cmon, the Flight staff is not your servant to get you a Coke after every 1/2 hour. Moreover, since she was not able to convey her message to the staff, it was always thru' yours truly, which got to be quite embarrassing after a while.
Secondly, cleanliness just doesn't come to us easily. Travel abroad on any flight originating out of India, just visit the loo and you will know very soon what I mean.
We tend to get personal too soon. Most Westerners, don't want to do that and feel very embarrassed when we start asking, "So, what does your wife do?". The guy might not even be married, he might be dating or might even have just gotten divorced, and so asking about his wife is none of your problem.
We can be very noisy and intruding. Agreed, we are a noisy nation and we celebrate our festivals by bursting crackers, but the serenity that a beautiful landscape gives a viewer will be simply lost if his fellow tourists, don't care to maintain silence. Once on a train journey in Switzerland, I had a family of three Gujaratis from Mumbai, sitting in the seat adjacent to mine. This gentleman was chatting very loudly with his wife and was constantly munching something. All of a sudden, this guy develops a liking for the guy sitting opposite to him. He asks him, "Which country". The person, who is asked this question, was a rather old guy. He would have liked to be left alone and rather reluctantly replies "England". The next question from the Gujarati was amazing, " Do you smoke?". I wondered what smoking and England, had to do with each other. The Brit, once again rather flummoxed, said " Yes I do", to which Mr Gujrati, retorts, "Smoking is very injurious to health". I could see the mans wife fidgeting with her dress, almost wanting to disown her husband for the most inconsequential conversation that her husband was trying to carry out and I wanting to disown him as my fellow countryman. But the best was yet to come. Mr Gujarati (I mean no offense to Gujratis here, they are great people, with a fantastic business acumen and am using Mr Gujarati for want of a better way to describe him), suddenly gets pangs of patriotism in picturesque Switzerland. He suddenly tells old Englishman, "I come from India, India is a great country, Mera Bharat Mahan". This made me want to jump out of the train. I guess, we ought to remember that not all the people in the world are as garrulous as us and that if they need to talk, on most occasions they will start the conversation themselves.
Being used to spicy food at home, we fuss over the bland food that you get abroad. We don't quite do our home-work on the place we are going to. Have you ever seen an Indian with a travel book? I don't recommend it, but we ought to study at least a little about the place we are visiting, to understand their history, their customs and so on. Even when we visit a tourist spot, it is imperative we understand the significance of the place we are visiting, by asking the guide relevant questions and not just being worried about when will I get my next meal.
In general the list is long, but in my opinion, we need to be more sensitive as tourists about the place we are visiting, respect the sanctity of the place and start being more polite, for wherever we visit, we are in a way ambassadors of Mother India, and I believe we would not want everyone else to have a wrong impression about us, unless of course, we believe in "We are like that only".
