ON THE GREENER SIDE OF TOURISM - electric toothbrush india

"Forty of Indian women don't wear underpants.
That's what American statisticians say.
"This dramatic statement with strong contempt is hard to digest at the best of times, not to mention late at night, ready to spend a bumpy night on Madras to the Thanjavur sleeper train.
However, raising relevant social issues is an important part of a responsible travel experience, our guide Ranjit Henry
Or "facilitator" because he prefers to be called-
It's not about getting us out of trouble.
"The US pantie supplier has started an active marketing campaign here," he explained . "
"This poor Indian woman suddenly felt very happy because she suddenly felt very bad!
And believe she should buy these things.
It undermines the dignity of poverty.
"Then, when we took out the bed sheet sleeping bag and slapped our mosquito repellent, he gave a warm condemnation of the scented soap.
Ranjit is an energetic and exciting Tamil who runs Kolam, a "responsible travel and soft travel" enterprise based in Madras.
He works with Bristol travel to welcome small group travelers (
Definitely not a tourist)
Southern India.
Ranjit's intention is to reveal what he calls "India of Indians" and this trip is trying to provide as many samples of life aspects of South India as possible in three weeks
Culture, history, food, nature, art.
This may sound like a high demand, but with an energetic partner, it's surprising how much land you can cover in just 21 days.
Our group of six was new to India at the beginning of the trip;
In the end, we were all hooked.
This is an ideal introduction, if fanatic.
Traveling in a small group means that in a whole bunch of group decisions that no one really agrees with, personal interests have never been swept away.
The schedule is flexible enough to consider the last --
Minor changes in direction.
Even if one day you find something you don't really like, the background is great every minute.
We swept through a huge kaleidoscope of coconut plantations, rice fields, woodlands, riverbanks and bushes, from Madras on the east coast, through the temple town of tangjiabul, to the town of calicat along the coast, through Mudu-
The Holy Land of Mulai games, the elegant sandalwood-
The scented Mysore, then the mountain station of madikaili, then returns to Madras by traffic --
Bangalore choked. Air travel (
Of course, except for flights from London to Madras
It's impossible-
Convenient, yes, but the pollution is serious.
So seven of us went through the subcontinent from east to west and then came back. relatively)
Good eco-train and minibus.
When we went, the windows in southern India spread out.
The streets can't be crowded, people crouching behind the orange and tomato pyramids selling fruit, lined up with strange, unfamiliar roots on blankets and sandalsmenders, ox-
Trolleys, bicycles shake under huge green bananas or pottery cans or a box of eggs, and dozens of buzzing mopeds.
There is a flower in every cornerseller -
Even in the smelly alley, you can occasionally smell jasmine. Sweet-
There are smelling wreaths all over the place, winding women's hair, hanging on statues in the temple, hanging on radiator grilles and windscreens on trucks, cars and cars
Rickshaw and bike handlebars.
Orange, pink and red patterns are painted on the truck, with exquisite floral patterns.
The taxi is a small shrine and kept clean and tidy;
The land of honor on the dashboard, the selected miniature statue of god.
Similarly, the driver is also protected by the divine, because the accepted driving etiquette is to run fast behind anything slower than you before shooting past.
Traffic is not the only thing that moves at the speed of spanking.
From the temple to the art gallery to the museum, we are led by a series of dazzling guides who have a very different command of English.
At the Madras Art Museum, with the encouragement of Rama, we absorbed the essence of the bronze characters of the jorra period. self-
Teaching in four languages)
Give Shiva a fondle to the smooth green ass and feel how perfect and human they are. In Maha-
Balipuram on the East Coast, old Uma with culture shows us how to recognize the Parava granite carving at a speed of 100 steps.
At Cochin, we saw the velvet of the former state of mahalaja with jewels and embroidery.
We spent the most three nights in any place.
All this is charming enough;
But this is not the only requirement on the trip.
Ranjit's introduction leaflet was rather bold to reveal that he liked to include "a review of tourism and leisure politics ", all of us are seeking the new onial conditions inherent in a world free of war, exploitation and fantasy ".
His political views on the conditions of tourism, leisure and neoliberalism are obvious, and therefore often fall into impassioned social commentary, with a low, stressed, resonating smell from time to time.
Ranjit is a very difficult person to please;
The emerging middle class in India (
"Traitors to their culture "), backpackers ("scroungers")
Western consumerism
Especially an attractive evil device like an electric toothbrush)
At the receiving end of one or two oral explosions.
This means we tend to avoid places that Westerners often go. Five-
Water Star hotels-
Pool and power facilities
The annoying thing is air conditioning.
We mainly stayed in hotels operated locally, where our guests were all Indian businessmen and families on holiday in India.
It gives us a pleasant feeling that we really "Visit India ".
This is the perfect compromise between the excessive "luxury" travel and the discomfort of backpack travel.
The other good thing is that the meals in these places are usually authentic and great --
And very cheap.
This grassroots trip also gives us the opportunity to experience the vagaries of the Indian pipeline.
The recurring problems we reported to various management were initially addressed almost anywhere, and a roll of new toilet paper was hopefully rolled out.
Facilities from basic (no hot water -
28 degrees of sunshine without suffering)
Crazy weird (
The Green Hotel in Mysore is proud of its stateof-the-
Art solar water
Heating system, model of ecology
Provide the correctness of the steaming shower and bathtub.
Unfortunately, cold water supply could fail, so we had to fill the bucket from the hot shower and use them to flush the toilet).
Maybe so much self
Conscious and benign ecology
Consciousness sounds a bit unbearable.
After all, it should be a holiday.
But sometimes, in the middle of all this, there is one or two moments that transcend the remains of any Ecology.
Perfect without reservation.
South of Cochin, rivers in the Western Ghat mountains flow into a complex network of tiny natural canals.
One morning spent in the maze, on a ship a little narrower than a waterway, in silence, is a perfect respite from the bustling streets --life.
Brown on Earth
The trees are full of green plants and flowers, including the strange wooden hibiscus and gardenia, and a row of wild pineapples.
Our ship is made of wooden boards, tied and stitched together with coconut silk;
Seven of us were sitting in a folding chair and two boatmen pushed us.
People who live in the back-
Water, growing rice and coconuts, not seeing too many tourists (or travellers).
The children ran out and watched us look at them and let us take pictures of them.
Each house has a passage to the door, where a boat is tied like a car in the driveway.
The tower strode through the swamp-
It is government policy that every family has wires and a light point.
Power outages at night tend to offset some of this advantage, but these lines provide the perfect habitat for Kingfisher and bees
Diner, egret, Paddy
Birds and herons dive below.
Another climax is in the cool coffee.
Growing in the country of Coorg, located inland on the west coast, near the town of Madikeri, we stumbled upon the local harvest festival.
During India's 60-year-old Green Revolution, the festival must lead to a degree of confusion, when hybrid rice varieties and improved irrigation resulted in two or three harvests per year.
This revolution is another problem for Ranjit.
He made a muffled sound of soil depletion, pesticide contamination and huge demand for water.
At the same time, at the beginning of December, the auspicious dates chosen by astrologers in the village, the coordinates kept their single festival in peace.
This mountain of hospitality
The tribe is a unique Hindu brand.
They have quietly given up eating restrictions on meat.
The local dish is pork stew with spices and blackberries)and alcohol (
Spending on weddings is a must).
They also got rid of the Brahmin priests, and all the duties of the priests were handed over to the local pattedar or tribal leader.
Pattedar in the village of cadarthru is a kind white man
KC hair Appayya.
He explained: "I am the only leader and we don't quite believe in those Brahmins.
There is a saying that if you suddenly face a Brahmin and a snake, you should kill the snake first.
"The resplendent white headscarf is inlaid with gold, black coat, wide gold belt and red trim, with a rough knife inserted on it, and he directs the dance of the festival --
A very slow and dignified jumping in a circle, hitting each other with a cane stick, like the exotic of Morris dance.
Following the elders is a group of young people who have not yet graduated, and there are five bamboo poles that are not much bigger than they are still learning ropes.
As the afternoon progressed, with the presence of other tribes, the ranks of dancers grew.
The sound of drums and flutes was louder, and the audience of women and children refreshed themselves with terrible icelollies.
However, these people are eating stronger things.
They strengthened with a lot of rum and lit a post
Holiday bonfire-
It was a pleasure, if not coherent, to eat with pork and honor their guests with a traditional song from Coorg.
However, when they politely asked us to go back and forth with one or two British airlines, we were completely stumped. We resisted; they insisted.
Finally, the quavery strain "on Ilkley Moor 'at'" floats on the rice fields.
However, perhaps we should not go there at all and scoff at other people's celebrations.
With the enthusiastic encouragement of the government, the increasing expansion of Western tourism is a concern of many Indians.
Our last visit was to the office of the travel company.
Equations, a control lobby based in Bangalore.
We sat there guilty and listened to a dull lecture about the terrible impact of mass tourism.
There was obviously a need for some response, and one of our members, retired doctors from Guildford, jumped bravely into the hip.
Of course, those who want to share the architectural and cultural fun of another place can get subsidies, he asks.
He explained that we tried to be both good --
Tourists who do as well as we can.
But what else can we do?
The man of the equation sighed wearily. "Nothing.
As tourists, we are not interested in your experience, but in the experience of the locals who have to live with the tour.
Visitors cannot "participate" or "help ".
This is our fight, not yours.
"So, in the end, how green are we?
We did our best.
Our imported currency flows into the local pockets.
We took off our shoes in the temple and covered our legs and shoulders that we did not respect others.
We asked for permission before taking pictures.
Maybe it's a very small drop in a very large bucket --
But at least we are told some of the more sensitive questions.
When I got home, I felt like I saw the Indian side and I wouldn't find it alone if I relied on a traditional travel agency.
Who wants five? star, air-
French fries with conditionswith-
It's everything anyway? !