The importance of travelling and going places

I guess because our previous governments neglected the tourist sector altogether with only a bare minimum allocation, other private players have taken over in a big way by providing information and bookings. But the infra structure has to come from the authorities which is still a slow and  painful process with some great tourist spots having poor connectivity .

When I thought of Visiting HP as suggested by a member, I hesitated a bit to take up the journey to HP. The cause for my hesitation was Connectivity. After inquiring the Himachal Pradesh Tourism development Corporation,I found that there is no direct connection to any Tourist places in HP from Vizag, my place either by Rail or by Air. Anyhow, I can go to Delhi by flight and from there I can catch another flight.

Sirmind Kumar wrote:

@Mr. Rambabu,

Sir if you have never thought about coming H.P. then you must think about it.. Beauty awaits you. 

@Ms. Kalyani Nandurkar,

Ma'am. SK's family welcomes you no problem. That would be fun. I live in Hamirpur.  You can come to Delhi first and then direct to Hamirpur.

 

Thank you Sirimand, was actually just kidding, but I will definitely try to make it if I come to HP. It would be very nice have someone locally to meet and interact with :)

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

Traveling for the purpose of gaining knowledge and absorption of other cultures and heritage is not very acceptable amongst Indian travelers. Most Indians travel only for the purpose of holy pilgrimage and now nature and adventure, water parks, amusement parks is added, basic purpose being to accumulate virtues and have as much fun as possible.

Visit any museum or art gallery in India and you see there are more foreigners than Indians.

I agree with that totally ! In my own town we have a small museum which 80% of the city's population is unaware of because of lack of publicity, dont see it show cased as a place of interest. It has many interesting things and some of us teachers had to write to the education dept to make it mandatory for students to visit the place ..But sadly there is noone else visiting the place except such excursion groups . We have no interest in history or heritage of our city,state  or nation ! Sad indeed..

usha manohar wrote:

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

Traveling for the purpose of gaining knowledge and absorption of other cultures and heritage is not very acceptable amongst Indian travelers. Most Indians travel only for the purpose of holy pilgrimage and now nature and adventure, water parks, amusement parks is added, basic purpose being to accumulate virtues and have as much fun as possible.

Visit any museum or art gallery in India and you see there are more foreigners than Indians.

I agree with that totally ! In my own town we have a small museum which 80% of the city's population is unaware of because of lack of publicity, dont see it show cased as a place of interest. It has many interesting things and some of us teachers had to write to the education dept to make it mandatory for students to visit the place ..But sadly there is noone else visiting the place except such excursion groups . We have no interest in history or heritage of our city,state  or nation ! Sad indeed..

Usha, sadly, this kind of apathy is very common everywhere in India, Pune too has a few museums which host a variety of beautiful, antique artifacts that are witness to our rich and glorious heritage, but none of the schools ever take the students there. All they visit is a few factories and other places as part of field education programme and to resorts for picnics. I once spoke about this to the headmistress of my son's school and what she  told me was indeed shocking. It seems that many parents did not like the idea of their children being taken to visit a museum, the words being 'what is there to see in the old junk' or to that effect. They would like their children being taken to a cinema instead. This is the attitude that is behind the purpose of tourism.

Schools should take such willing students to visit museums as it is a very novel experience. The response of the Pune school principal is unconvincing.

rambabu wrote:

When I thought of Visiting HP as suggested by a member, I hesitated a bit to take up the journey to HP. The cause for my hesitation was Connectivity. After inquiring the Himachal Pradesh Tourism development Corporation,I found that there is no direct connection to any Tourist places in HP from Vizag, my place either by Rail or by Air. Anyhow, I can go to Delhi by flight and from there I can catch another flight.

I agree, poor connectivity is the bane of India. In the USA I found that even small towns of 50000 are connected by air. HP is a wonderful place and I have spent quality time in Dalhousie and Kulu. I ws at Dalhousie for 3 months attending the AF Ski School. Lovely place with all the snow around. Its a pity it has poor connections to South and east. Also no rail line is built> look at China they have a rail in Tibet from Chengdu to Lhasa. Why cant we do It ? No answer.

 

Earlier  schools focused on education and also gain of knowledge. I remember my own school trips after which we were asked to write an essay on our experience. It was an all round education which was beneficial for the students. Today, many schools have no school trips at all, with homework and a packed school schedule for both teachers and students there is hardly any time for any other activity.

The observations of Rambabu anfd MG Singh on connectivity are not proper. India is a vast country and every place can not be connected to each other. Vizag to Delhi and then onward to HP is a normal route. Even from my place in Gujarat I have to go to Delhi and catch onward connection to HP. What is shocking about it. I have been to VIzag from my place to Mumbai and then next flight to Vizag. In USA almost all flights frm NewYork are changed at Atlanta for catching flights towards east like California or down to Houston etc. All the time running down India is not fair. 

MG Singh wrote:

rambabu wrote:

When I thought of Visiting HP as suggested by a member, I hesitated a bit to take up the journey to HP. The cause for my hesitation was Connectivity. After inquiring the Himachal Pradesh Tourism development Corporation,I found that there is no direct connection to any Tourist places in HP from Vizag, my place either by Rail or by Air. Anyhow, I can go to Delhi by flight and from there I can catch another flight.

I agree, poor connectivity is the bane of India. In the USA I found that even small towns of 50000 are connected by air. HP is a wonderful place and I have spent quality time in Dalhousie and Kulu. I ws at Dalhousie for 3 months attending the AF Ski School. Lovely place with all the snow around. Its a pity it has poor connections to South and east. Also no rail line is built> look at China they have a rail in Tibet from Chengdu to Lhasa. Why cant we do It ? No answer.

True. I live in deep South. Whenever I feel like going to a pilgrimage to holy places like, Badrinath or  such pilgrim centers located in North India , i found to my utter disappointment that there is no direct connection to the above said places. It was only yesterday, a couple living in the same flat sent us  Prasad of Saibaba. They had been to Shiridi. They related their travails to me. They had spent one day in Shiridi. But they had to spend Four days in the train, because there was no direct connection from Vizag to Shiridi. They had to go by train to Hyderabad and then catch another train to Shiridi.

 

 

It is impossible to connect all cities anywhere in the world. What is normally done in Europe and other parts of the world is the schedule train and air travel in such a way that passengers dont need to waste time waiting for connecting trains or aircraft. I guess that is something Indian tourism dept has to work on so that the waiting period is reduced and also make air travel cheaper by introducing more budget airlines and have many more airports across the country , in smaller towns so that people can get from place to place in the shortest period of time.

Vizag by no logic is in deep South. It is in fact more near  to Odisha in eastern India. 

There as dozens of unused airports which are not able to attract traffic. Tourism is undertaken from savings and Indians are still hand to mouth.

It is a question of studying popular destinations ..I know of Belgaum airport in Katnataka which is hardly heard of but it is very well located and there are many people visiting Maharashtra and other places in Karnataka. If flights to Pune, Mumbai and other nearby places are introduced I am sure there would be enough people using it. Apart from a single flight to Bangalore there were hardly any other flights operating from there. When you already have an airport, you have to look and explore all possibilities to make it functional ..I am sure this is the case with most of the smaller airports

vijay wrote:

There as dozens of unused airports which are not able to attract traffic. Tourism is undertaken from savings and Indians are still hand to mouth.

All these airports were made by the Goraji( british), but India is a poor country and we cannot upkeep these airports. Some are being looked after by the IAF, with their Care and Maintenenace Units. Can one imagine that at Kumbhigram the Americans built 27 runaways. Whew! Only 3 are operational now. India has a long way to go yet.

 

Now the scenario has changed. Most of the Airports are being undertaken by Civil Aviation Ministry. In my place Airport has been upgraded to an International Airport after it's selected for Smart city. From here there are many direct flights to several National and International Airports. And, there is a likelihood of reduction in fares to lure the passengers.

MG Singh wrote:

vijay wrote:

There as dozens of unused airports which are not able to attract traffic. Tourism is undertaken from savings and Indians are still hand to mouth.

All these airports were made by the Goraji( british), but India is a poor country and we cannot upkeep these airports. Some are being looked after by the IAF, with their Care and Maintenenace Units. Can one imagine that at Kumbhigram the Americans built 27 runaways. Whew! Only 3 are operational now. India has a long way to go yet.

 

 

Why not bring in private entrepreneur , so that they have the freedom to choose routes that are viable and provide connectivity to other places. 

usha manohar wrote:

MG Singh wrote:

vijay wrote:

There as dozens of unused airports which are not able to attract traffic. Tourism is undertaken from savings and Indians are still hand to mouth.

All these airports were made by the Goraji( british), but India is a poor country and we cannot upkeep these airports. Some are being looked after by the IAF, with their Care and Maintenenace Units. Can one imagine that at Kumbhigram the Americans built 27 runaways. Whew! Only 3 are operational now. India has a long way to go yet.

 

 

Why not bring in private entrepreneur , so that they have the freedom to choose routes that are viable and provide connectivity to other places. 

Private entrepreneurs in India always turn out to be expensive outfits and beyond reach of the common people. But if individuals were to form cooperative societies on the lines similar to that are formed in agricultural sector, it would benefit larger groups in terms of employment and also help control costs as well as benefit more travelers. Just a thought!

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

usha manohar wrote:

MG Singh wrote:

vijay wrote:

There as dozens of unused airports which are not able to attract traffic. Tourism is undertaken from savings and Indians are still hand to mouth.

All these airports were made by the Goraji( british), but India is a poor country and we cannot upkeep these airports. Some are being looked after by the IAF, with their Care and Maintenenace Units. Can one imagine that at Kumbhigram the Americans built 27 runaways. Whew! Only 3 are operational now. India has a long way to go yet.

 

 

Why not bring in private entrepreneur , so that they have the freedom to choose routes that are viable and provide connectivity to other places. 

Private entrepreneurs in India always turn out to be expensive outfits and beyond reach of the common people. But if individuals were to form cooperative societies on the lines similar to that are formed in agricultural sector, it would benefit larger groups in terms of employment and also help control costs as well as benefit more travelers. Just a thought!

Not any more, in fact the private airlines are the cheapest now while compared to Airindia and its sister organisation. The other day my brother flew here from Bangalore on Jet airways paying Rs 2200 while the airfare on Indian airlines was close to Rs 5500...In fact we have 7 flights daily from Mangalore to Bangalore and all of them are going full even during week days except the Indian airlines flight on which you can hope to get a seat even during last minute if you can afford it !

Subject to correction I think Air India does not operate between Mangalore -Bengaluru sector so the fare of 5500 is not applicable. In fact it is fare of one Jet flight. Recently I was searching for flights on this sector.