A Tourist's Paradise

Indore- A Tourist’s Paradise.
Every one knows that our beautiful city of Indore is a pensioner’s paradise. But very few know that it has vast potential to become the country’s leading tourist destination, thanks to the untiring efforts of our civic authorities.
In fact, many Indoreans are ignorant of the facilities created by our city-fathers for encouraging adventure tourism. Instead of appreciating and encouraging their efforts, the residents of our city criticise them and grumble constantly about their poor services.
I, for one, am sure that many of the city folks are not aware of the beauty of the city in summer months, when it is enveloped in a cloud of dust ,surpassing the beauty of Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer Fort.
Which tourist would like to get roasted in dust storms to see the magnificent forts and palaces in Rajasthan, when he has the alternative of experiencing the same effects in the heart of this town, courtesy the specially constructed and maintained roads of the municipality.
In the rainy season, the city can be called the ‘Venice of Central India’, thanks again to the carefully planned and executed highways criss-crossing the city. Sheets of water flowing right through these roads, many times spill over to the courtyards, providing an unforgettable vision to tourists. With the help of flat-bottomed boats, these tourists can visit places of interest, an opportunity many cities cannot offer.
Another facility offered to tourists in rainy season is fishing in the large number of stagnant pools dotting the city roads, an arrangement specially made to attract discerning tourists.
Whatever be the reason, if the tourist is a keen student of bacteriology, then he would certainly have his money’s worth, for studying the growth of bacteria and the like in the city’s backyards as well as near its commercial centres. Mounds of garbage are being maintained for this purpose even in the face of stiff criticism against such collections.
If the tourist is an experimental biologist , he could have enough rat samples to carry on with his study, even while on a sight seeing trip. The city hospitals have been kept geared to meet this contingency. The tourist needs only to show his enthusiasm and, hey presto, like a magician taking rabbits out of his hat, the hospitalwalahs would provide the necessary numbers in no time.
Why should one go all the way to visit the lost city of Pompeii to see graffiti on its walls, when right in this town and that too in the heart of it, compound walls present an idyllic view of the creative minds of Indoreans.
Or for that matter, why should one travel all the way to Sarnath to see and marvel at the ingenuity of the workers of a bygone era who could construct buildings and pillars centuries ago without using cement, when in this city we have any number of builders still involved in such constructions.
To conclude, if this city is not able to attract adequate tourists, in spite of all facilities provided by the civic authorities, the fault lies squarely with us.

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We are not able to properly project the good things our city fathers are doing to attract the tourists. Instead, we are, day in and day out, criticising them, calling them lethargic and in the process discouraging them in their efforts to make this city a true tourist paradise.
(Garha Chronicle, February,1998)