Someone once remarked to me, right after a trip, “Oh I see
that you did all the touristy things?” That was not the first time. I have
heard this before – from acquaintances, strangers and even close friends. Many
have said this. I am sure you too, at some point, would have heard this same
retort from someone in your circle.
What is this “touristy” thing? I checked the dictionary to
see the meaning. It says “it relates to or visited by tourists” and “often used
to suggest tawdriness or lack of authenticity”. Oh so that is an underhand comment meant to
mock your style of travel.
Let us look at the logistics of a trip. Food, cost of
transport, accommodation, clothes, camera, sight-seeing costs – that’s a whole
bunch of expenses a person who travels has to factor in, excluding the planning
that goes on weeks in advance. One has to be decently rich or at least willing
to spend one’s hard-earned money on travel for any trip to become a reality.
So tell me, if you are going on a three day trip to another
country, spending nearly 50,000, what are you most likely to do or see? Which
fool will sit in a cafe and watch life pass by? Would you too not do the same ‘touristy’
things that you sneer others about? Or at least, see the most frequented and
talked about paces first and then if time and money permits, explore lesser
known places. Spending so much money for so little time in a new city or a new
country, one of course would like to see the most famous places first.
Only a
person who lives there would go around exploring the lesser known places. That
is because having lived so long there he would have heard about it from
someone. Or if you are a super wealthy traveller or travelling on company money
then yeah you might skip the more famous places for the quieter ones just to
relax and be away from the crowd. Or if you are a solo backpacker, you would
again focus your energies on few select places not frequented by more regular
people. In all cases, you would either have the luxury of time or money.
I don’t think any normal person, by which I mean a middle
class, working class family like my own, who has saved money and planned for
the trip for months in advance, will go to a new place and choose to sit in a
remote corner of the town just so he can boast about saying “oh, I don’t do the
touristy things.” I mean, who goes to Singapore for the first time ever, and
doesn’t see the famous Night Safari or the Jurong Bird Park. Or who goes to Mysore
and doesn’t see The Palace, the Zoo or the Chamundi Hills? Or who goes to Sikkim
and doesn’t visit a Buddhist monastery or eat momos? Who goes to Chennai and doesn’t spend some
time in the Marina Beach? Who goes to Kanyakumari and doesn’t visit the
Vivekananda Memorial? Or who goes to Jaipur and doesn't see the Hawa Mahal?Is that touristy for you?
If it is, I really want to peep into
your travel diary. I want to see what were the things you did and places you
visited when you first visited a city with your saved up money. Two places in India that we as a family have
gone repeatedly are Mysore and Udupi. Each time we have explored a different
facet of the city, the little nukes and corners, the lesser known eateries that
serve absolutely delicious local dishes. But the first time we went to both
these places, we visited the Zoo, the Palace, Chamundi Hills and so on. They
are a must to see places in Mysore. And if that counts as “touristy” “tawdry”
or lacking in imagination, that is only because, may be, You haven’t gone out enough. So, pack your bags, loosen your
purse strings and go visit a new place. And then we will sit and talk of all
the things You did “differently.”
