If only tourists into India would be more diligent and read carefully before catching a flight to this diverse land the diaries left by the memsahibs of the Raj. But try telling that to the new-generation tourist, arming herself with nothing more than a Lonely Planet guide and its daredevil exhortations to venture forth into magnificent ruins and the unruly countryside, with the added globalising order to seek bonhomie with local residents. No wonder the tourism ministry has had to step in and moot a set to guidelines for the foreign tourist. Read them, and begin your discovery of India, as told by the authorities.Here are some cautionary notes from the ministry. Take precautions before stepping into lonely areas or going out at night. Avoid developing familiarity with strangers. Don’t accept the stranger’s kindness, whether it be a ride to one’s destination or a snack. Use only clean toilets. Drink bottled water. Eat non-vegetarian fare only at reputed restaurants. Dress appropriately in conservative and traditional areas. It is impossible not to sense a yearning in this list for a kind of tourist who prefers to be sequestered from the chaos and dust of the land. But consider too what the list tells us Indians. It says to us that Incredible India is a different country from the one we Indians inhabit. That this incredible tourist destination of the gorgeous marketing campaign cannot be made with the facilities we Indians must do with: public facilities that may not be clean, tap water that may not be potable, restaurant food that may not be advisable. The guidelines are, in effect, an admission of failure.This kind of defensiveness is, in any case, bewildering. The main obstacles to a good holiday in India for the average tourist come from infrastructural inadequacies: overburdened transport systems, shortage of rooms because of inhibitory regulations. Government should mend that. And before putting distance between the tourist and the local, it should remember that tourism is the great democratic leveller. Countries which encourage travellers to roam without fear inspire confidence in themselves not just from the outsider, but also from their own citizens.
