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Green tours, his forte
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Lawyer-turned tourist guide Era Meyappan has one mission... to showcase India's unspoilt beauty
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A tree house.
"UN" COULD be the logo of Era Meyappan's travel outfit. In his unconventional, off-beat tours, his guests see the unspoilt Bharat — places untouched by regular tourists. They bump along on bullock-carts, bicycles, elephants, boats and second-class sleepers. They stay in small hotels or with families in villages, meet unvarnished people — the weavers, tribals, farmers and ex-royalty — and have a dose of ancient therapy.
Meyappan would like his guests to leave more than their footprints on these `untouristy' places. He wants them to shed their prejudices about India, show respect for local customs and culture. He invites them to take photographs and positive memories back. Meyappan's callers abide by an unwritten code; they dress `decently,' eat Indian food, greet with a "Vanakkam" or "Namaste." What his visitors spend goes to help people they visit. Tourism, Meyappan insists, can be eco-friendly.
Bitten by the travel bug: Era Meyappan.
But why is an advocate operating tours? "The travel bug," he counters. "I was with Scouts, Service Civil International and Youth Hostel Association and met westerners as a student. I was shocked by their conception of India — barbaric, disease and community tension-ridden, poor and travel-unfriendly. I itched to change that."
India as it is
When the court no longer held charm, the intrepid guide took Christian, a Swedish national of Swallows India, to Surat immediately after the cholera break. And showed him how the media had blown it up as an all-India epidemic. He took a group to Coimbatore on the day after the blasts so they could see it was "business as usual."
Christian went back and Scandinavians began to arrive in droves to see this `uncommon' nation through a new pair of glasses. "I prefer professionals whose opinions count," Meyappan says. "I want them to see India the way it is, not the way it is projected." He admits the impressions they collect are not always A grade. "But they are amazed at how happy our rural kids are, how hospitable our villagers are, how groups of villages remain crime-free with just one police station and how the joint-family system sustains them still. Many of them want to stay on."
The highpoint of the tours is undoubtedly the two-day mandatory stay with a small town family. The `phoren' visitors eat vegetarian food from a leaf, sleep on mats, go to work with the hosts, listen to discussions on family affairs, attend festivals and watch village craft. "My budget tourists and backpackers are thrilled."
Life's mission
Does this make for a living? "It's a mission for me. My kids interact with the tourists. But the truly profitable part is what they write." He hands out letters. "One-for-one we'll live," writes one, "and take care of our parents." Chris pens: "The two 12-13 year-old trader boys in Mamallapuram gave me such a deep feeling of India — I want to make them my guests in Sweden."
Meyappan can be contacted at 28207544.
GEETA PADMANABHAN
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Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Madurai
Thiruvananthapuram
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
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