I don’t know how many of you subscribe to Indian Express or FE but those who do must have read Isser Singh Ahluwalia’s excellent piece on the on –going rejuvenation of Nizamuddin Basti (IE 29/1). I was very happy to read the article. What struck me most was the small para about the richness of the area in terms of its heritage. Just imagine, this small place is home to the dargah of the most revered sufi saint, Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, the tomb of Amir Khusrau and the mazaar of Mirza Ghalib. Reading the piece, I just thought, how ignorant I have been about the city which has been my home for more than 10 out of last 15/16 years. I cursed myself for my criminal act of not visiting these sites even once though, from June 1996 to December 2002, I passed alongside this basti twice everyday to & fro office. In order to make amends, I have decided to go for a full round of the basti and also the adjoining Humayun’s tomb this week once the Weather God is more kind. Nizamuddin basti is not an exception. Such sites of rare beauty and historical significance abound in almost all old cities of India. In any case, we have hardly created any new integrated cities in the last 66 years except perhaps Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar and Gandhinagar. And for Delhi, every nook and corner of the city is so full of our rich heritage but they are all buried under the combined weight of our avarice, indifference, greed and corruption. And we never tire of invoking our glorious past and rich cultural heritage. Paying lip sympathy and false hubris define India of today. Please pardon for my saying so- as a society, we are definitely one of the most hypocrite societies. I have visited 29 countries in all continents except South America. I can say with lot of pride that no country in the world is endowed with so much of beauty and diversity as ours- we have everything, mighty mountain ranges, mighty rivers, modern cities, old royal cities with beautiful forts & fortifications, desert and a coast line of more than 7500 kms. But what have we done with them? Killed them! How other countries, even less developed than us, maintain their cities and respect their heritage sites is a lesson for all of us. Apart from respect for heritage and aesthetics, maintaining these sites makes solid economic sense. For a country of our size, beauty & diversity, our share in global tourist arrivals is a measly 0.64% - a pathetic performance. With just 6.57 million tourist arrivals, India ranks 38th, while China is 3rd with ten times more arrivals at 57.6 million. And mind it, Tourism industry is one industry which has the potential for job creation of possibly all types- high paid jobs in hospitality sector to unskilled labour. Tourism also has the potential to give a major boost to possibly all sectors of the economy – Transport, Roads, Airport, Steel and Cement, to name a few. But nobody is talking about Tourism. Everybody is busy taking about free electricity, free water, SIT for something which happened many decades back. The present is being sacrificed at the altar of political expediency. We are busy issuing certificates of secularism and honesty, while the people suffer. I thought the new kids on the block will be more sensitive and sensible but they have surprised us with the speed they have shown in imbibing the rules of real politic. I was wrong. One person has realized the potential of Tourism and is openly talking about it- Narendra Modi. Tourism was one of the 5 T’s he talked about recently while unveiling his blueprint of a new India.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 06:55:25 +0000
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