RURAL TOURISM
Untapped potential
HUGH & COLLEEN GANTZER
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Rural tourism is intended to energise local skills, economy and grassroots development. Judging by Pranpur in Madhya Pradesh, it seems to be working well, in parts.
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Leaving aside the many shortfalls in the accommodation, we found much in Pranpur that would provide fascinating experiential encounters with village lifestyles.
PHOTOS: HUGH and COLLEEN GANTZER
Much-needed spotlight: Tourists being treated to the Raee dance of Bundelkhand.
Architect Chakravarty was given no brief. He must have been delighted, therefore, when Pranpur was certified the Best Rural Tourism Project at February’s National Tourism Awards ceremony in New Delhi.
Rural Tourism is one of the experimental new initiatives taken by the Ministry of Tourism. In collaboration with the UNDP, it seeks to use tourism to bring self-reliance to our villages. The Ministry funded the hardware, that is, the basic tourism infrastructure like the accommodation and its furniture and fittings using local artisans, crafts-people and architectural idioms. The finances for this were channelled through the district authorities. The UNDP worked through NGOs to help the people of the chosen villages to adapt their traditional skills to access today’s markets. This software created Self Help Groups, emphasising the participation of women, and capacity building by suggesting new designs and products to suit today’s consumers.
In principle, this is an excellent scheme, using tourism money to fertilise the grassroots of development, eliminating the middle man. We were asked to visit three Rural Tourism Projects to assess how effectively these principles had been translated into reality. One of the villages was Pranpur, three km from the historic weaving centre of Chanderi, in Madhya Pradesh.
Forgotten skills
Sitting in the authentically simulated forecourt of a village hut, architect Chakravarty told us that he had, virtually single-handedly, revived the almost-forgotten skill of stone masonry. Local artisans had, at first, been sceptical. Then, as they worked and exchanged tales of what their ancestors had spoken about, they had become more confident, enthusiastic, innovative. In spite of occasional bureaucratic obduracy … because the District authorities had to pass the bills … the honey-coloured stone building had risen, secure in its mud-mortar binding. “Under the weight of the dressed stone, mud is said to develop a vacuum, holding the stones together more firmly than cement,” Chakravarty explained to us one evening.
This visitors’ dwelling, called Amaree, has been named after the mango grove in which it stands. A vegetable garden thrives in its grounds, guarded by a surprisingly life-like model of a farmer’s wife. Using the slope of the land, Chakravarty has created a water-grid using gravity flow from the large reservoir installed at the highest point of this undulating land. Visitors are also encouraged to see the composting of garbage and a working vermi-compost pit.
Wholesome fare
The Amaree resort by architect Chakravarty built using traditional stone masonry.
And though we are not vegetarian, we enjoyed the food prepared in Amaree’s kitchen. Our rural cuisine, if prepared hygienically, is fresh, organic and nutritious. We were also fascinated by the very marketable, draughts-like, ancient, rural board game, Sola Gota.
Having said that, it is clear that the absence of a brief shows in many other ways.
If one of the objects of Rural Tourism is to attract reasonably affluent visitors away from the major urban centres, then the facilities must match their expectations. In rural home-stays, visitors share the lifestyles of the families they stay with. In Rural Tourism, on the other hand, the standards of accommodation must meet the minimum levels of physical safety, security, hygiene and comfort acceptable to its clientele. In other words, one cannot expect backpacker-primitive living conditions to appeal to urban, upwardly mobile visitors. They will not, for instance, like to share common toilets located across an open, public, area! And if rural development is one of the prime drivers of Rural Tourism, then it is important to attract the right types of visitors with the right sensitivity and the right amounts of disposable income.
Leaving aside the many shortfalls in the accommodation, we found much in Pranpur that would provide fascinating experiential encounters with village lifestyles. Babulal the potter threw beautiful clay creations that could, with a little guidance, become objects d’art in an executive’s drawing room. Babulal’s family, living on three different levels of their extended family home, showed a high level of entrepreneurship. A daughter-in-law sat at a loom, a son plied a spinning wheel and, on an upper floor, a daughter clipped and filled beedies. Nearby, schoolmaster Rajesh Kahare taught his pupils the three Rs, Hindi and English. “Yes,” said a bright-eyed girl “I speak English .. a little difficultly, but I learn..” She corrected herself, “I am learning.”
Septuagenarian metal smith Lakshminarayan cast heavy anklets as his ancestors had done before him. He bemoaned the fact that young women preferred to wear salwars and jeans and, consequently shunned anklets. Then, from a plastic bag, he pulled out three exquisite little metal creations: a fish, a lion and a tortoise. They would have made the most enchanting souvenirs. “Alas,” sighed Lakshminarayan, “the foreign lady who asked me to make these bought the entire stock and she never returned. Now I only have these samples.” Clearly, there was a latent capacity awaiting enhancement here!
The apparent conservativeness that the metal smith showed was founded on a lack of opportunity, and an aversion to launch a new, untested, product. Such seemingly ossified mindsets, that conventional wisdom associates with our rural communities, were belied by the mores governing the Jhalaribaoli. This legendary, 500-year-old step-well was built by an old woman out of the meagre earnings from her hand-mill. Significantly, people firmly believe that if anyone is prevented from drawing water from this baoli on caste prejudices, the well water will become polluted with insects. The infestation vanishes only when the prohibition is removed.
Incentive to change
That evening we sat under the bright stars and watched the swirling, whirling Raee dance of the Bundelkhand region. We questioned a young man from the village, “Your elders don’t object to their men and women dancing the Raee in front of strangers. Why don’t they allow young women of the village to walk a ramp to model the very demure clothes made locally out of local fabrics?” He grinned knowingly: “Perhaps if the elders realise how much visitors will pay for the local fabrics and costumes, they will change!”
Even better than the unsuitable, glossy, UNDP brochure, he had put his finger on the most appealing argument in favour of Rural Tourism.
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