Nice Information and Article about International Kite Festival of Gujarat

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Unique India Tour Review - By Cathy


We left Jaipur on a six hour journey to Chatrasagar, a small town on the edge of the desert.  None of us knew what to expect, as we were going to be staying in tents – a sharp contrast to the five-plus star palaces that we had so quickly become accustomed to.  

Our guide Raghu assures us that there is running water – whenever we need water, he will run and get it!  He tells us not to worry, that this place is DAMN AMAZING.


Any anxieties about what to expect were immediately forgotten the second that we hit the road, and Indiahighwaydriving Anxiety overshadowed all of our other anxieties (including the snake phobias that some of the women had and the shopping phobias that the men continue to suffer from – seriously, mention the word ‘shopping’ and, like Pavlov’s dogs, the men reflexively lower their arms to the groin area and cover their pockets).

I know that I have already described the Indi(an) 500 experience, but the India highway driving on the road to Jaipur experience kicked up the adrenaline a few thousand cc’s.  For much of the journey, we were on a highway that is very similar to the road to Hana in Hawaii – only instead of ocean and lush greenery, we are surrounded by clay shoulders still flanked by dilapidated corrugated tin-roofed shops interspersed with people, cows, goats and sheep, donkeys, camels, and motor vehicles.  The main predator is the one lane road that is occasionally challenged to accommodate all of the above, going both ways.


I vividly remember my first experience on a windy one-lane road in Israel (with hairpin turns around obstructed-view stretches). Of course, having only travelled on twentieth century two-plus lane highways, we had no clue as to what would happen if two cars racing in opposite directions met in Mexican standoff fashion.  The guide said that there was only one thing to do – pray.  And that is what I did throughout this journey.


I hadn’t realized that the rest of our group were also religious – but every few minutes I heard shrieks of ‘oh god’ (and maybe even a few hail Marys).  All the while, our hero driver Sanjay calmly continued on his drive, playing that loud Indian highway music (different tones of horns beeping away).  I later find out that different tones and cadences indicate the different actions that are required – like get out of my f*ing way, move over one inch so that we can comfortably pass with a five centimetre perimeter between us, change the angle of your vehicle so that its trajectory path is 45, not 90 degrees).
At first I would have described the auditory experience as a cacophony of horns.  But on these trips, I would say that it is more like an opera – with the beeping of the horns serving as the dialogue that is sung in operas.
 

Raghu tells us that the highways we will travel are graded in different levels – I think it was 1 to 5 (small one lane-ers surrounded by mud and gravel  graduating up to modern divided concrete highways).  One thing that stands out in memory is the fact that no matter how modern or how divided the road is, and no matter how developed or sparsely populated the area – there were no breaks in the chain of people, animals, and vehicles on either side of the road.  So far, I have not seen one foot of completely open space in India.


At one point, a woman with leathery brown skin and a dust-covered sari was sitting cross-legged in the middle of a highway, cradling her infant/toddler son.  At first, I thought that this was Indian style hitch-hiking and that she was waiting for a lift.  But then she looked up with those gaunt brown eyes and that desperate expression, and pointed to her son.
I wasn’t quite sure what she meant, but then she stood up near the window and kept pointing to me and then to her son, indicating that her son is starving and I could help feed him at least one meal.

I have a flashback of the scene at the airport upon our arrival - one child approached me for money, and since I didn’t have any rupees, I pulled out my pack of jolly ranchers and gave him one.  Then…. out of nowhere, five other kids swarm me, waving their hands to grab at a candy; having divvied up all the candy, I pulled out the gum, and then ten more came to swarm me.

It was really an uncomfortable experience for me, because they kept on moving with me as I made my way to the bus, many of them coming back for seconds.  In any case, I wondered whether my gut reaction to give the mother some money would bring on a swarm.  So I gave Ragu a few rupees to give to her, and she summoned up the energy to thank me with a smile.


            As we approached small towns along the way, the roads opened up and the normal floods of people surrounded us.  We noticed that there were many more cows on the road than we had previously seen in the larger towns, and Raghu explained to us that this was the rush hour for cows that were returning from a hard day of roaming from house to house, where they were fed chapatis and veggies.  In fact, it is a daily ritual for Indian women to bake chapattis – some for her family and some for the cows.

Seriously, even though the cows are owned by a family, they are fed by villagers as they roam around, and chapatti is one of their staples.  Ragu reminds us that the expression HOLY COW! is not only the expression of disbelief that most comes out of the mouths of most foreigners when they arrive in Delhi.  It is a reality – each and every bovine is a Holy Cow, and it is a duty (and an honor) for Indian people to feed them.  At the end of the day, the cows return home to their rightful owners, creating a cow-jam on the road.  We speculate that this is the origin of the response that our parents would give when we asked them how long we would have to wait before we got some toy or whatever, and they replied – ‘you can wait ‘til the cows come home’.  The cow-jam is joined by a camel-jam (they, at least, travel in single file, led by their owners) and a sheep jam being herded by a red-turbaned shepherd who is slowly moving the flock of sheep along their path, undisturbed by the loud honking of horns) and an occasional elephant-jam.  There is a unique riff with a special pitch of beeping for animals – it’s a little less urgent and more respectful a sound than most other tunes.


            We finally arrive at our destination – any reservations about sleeping in a tent on the edge of a desert were quickly dispelled.  Although we thought that it was a mirage, it was a real oasis.  Treed surroundings with a small camp of ten or so large white tents (each with a wood floor and comfy bed and a large bathroom) set atop a hill that overlooked a glassy CLEAN lake.
We arrived in time to climb a hill to watch the sunset – mother nature in her splendour – calm and serene – for me, it is some reassurance that what some of us refer to as god (or Vishnu, or perfection of being, or mother nature) really does exist in India.


For once, I felt like this part of the journey was an Eat-Love-Pray experience (no shopping in site). My suspicions were confirmed when we were greeted by Favio (he called himself Raj, but he was as handsome as Julia Robert’s Favio – six and a half feet tall, light brown skin accentuated by shoulder length black shiny hair and the most beautiful eyes).  Apparently, I wasn’t the only one whose heart was taken – another of my new sisters had later commented on how beautiful Raj’s belt was, and we all chimed in together that in order to have gathered that much detail, she must have been staring at that region of his beautiful body for some time.


We wash the grime of the road off our bodies in our luxurious tents, and dine on the most delicious dishes that are prepared with ingredients that are grown on the property.  The next morning we wake up to experience the beautiful sunrise on the lake, and we head off in jeeps to visit the farm and crops that surround a small village.


Although I have been through several small villages in different countries, this is the most unique one I have been fortunate enough to witness.  First, we visited a very small school of children, and were taken by how sweet they were, and the fact that they were all attentive and respectful of the teacher (they sheepishly turned to smile at us discretely so that the principal would not see).  We came just in time for morning exercise, and we noticed that there were about fifteen uniformed children sitting outside the group on the ground.  Apparently, they were late for class, and were separated from the rest of the class, as they were going to be punished after Morning Prayer.


We were all worried that there might be some type of public caning ahead – we all sighed in relief as we watched them pay penance – fifty jumping jacks!  On one wall, there were about ten names and numbers painted on the stone, and we asked Raghu to find out what that was.  He told us that that was the ‘donor wall’ and the numbers were the donation amounts (no more than a few hundred dollars each).  We asked our guide if we could collectively contribute $1000.00 – not just for a spot on the donor wall, but because we were all moved by the sparseness of the learning environment (they had one computer for the school – not for the children to use, but just as a demo to show them what a computer looked like).


Raghu asked the principal if they would accept our donation and he replied that they did not accept donations (we didn't even ask for a tax receipt - honest).  So we asked if we could buy some books or pencils, and were again told that they had everything they needed at the school and that they really did not want to change a thing – because they were happy with what they had.


As we walked through the village, we saw that the villagers really were happy.  There were smiles on faces, and children that were being cared for by mothers, fathers, and grandparents.  The village was planned with civil-engineering foresight – the shops that emitted smoke were situated far away from areas that were populated by the people, etc.


We watched a demo of pottery-making (a large stone wheel that was turned by hand – providing the potter with both a workout and as effective an instrument as any modern wheel.


The artist who painted the pots with a precision and uniformity of design used white Lyme that she painted on with a donkey hair brush (yes, the Lyme hurts at first, but she becomes immune after the first thousand pots).  There was a pit in the ground that served as a barbeque for the kiln.  Apparently, the pots last for six months – so everyone gets new pots for Diwali and for the holiday in August, and they throw out the old ones in the pit – pretty efficient, if you ask me.  There were trades of all types in the village (the potter, the baker, the shoemaker).  The sight that was most hilarious (fortunately, we were able to stifle our belly laughs until we got back to the bus), was the ninety year old scrawnily bearded white haired barber who was sharpening his razor and showing us his tools.

Okay, that might have been not THAT atypical in India – but get this – the guy was blind!!!! And every time he tried to put his tool away into the right hole in the box, he had to try three different spots before he found the right spot.  SERIOUSLY!  Raghu asked if anyone wanted to be a volunteer for the demo that would prove that he still had his barber mojo – even though he had retired from formal practice and was merely doing a few jobs here and there on the side.


We tried to convince Alex to volunteer to take the shave….. but no go.  We were actually happy – we wouldn't want Alex to be in any harm’s way.  He and Raghu have been the heroes of the trip – both having planned each and every step of the way with the COMPASS company manager, making sure that every detail was attended to so that we would have a 100% DAMN AMAZING experience.


We all thank Alex from the bottom of our hearts, and Harriet – for being a tour operator widow these past several months.  We left with brimming hearts – reassured that there are still communities of people that live happily in harmony, with minimal needs that are cared for by wise planning, hard work, and the fruits of Mother Nature.  It was like a trip back through a time warp, visiting what might have been the ancient beginnings of a kibbutz.


            After our return to our oasis and a wonderful meal and good-byes to Favio, we are sad to leave this peaceful haven.  Raghu assures us that our next accommodation will be even more amazing… and he is right.  Hours later, we have jetted through the time warp several hundred years, and we arrive at a 7-star estate – fifty acres of beautifully manicured grounds, marbled statues, beautiful infinity pools – 87 rooms staffed by at least 870 people… I can’t describe it, and I am actually embarrassed to admit that I have stayed in this lap of luxury.


All I can say is this – Alex found an agency called COMPASS tours in India, and he and the Tour manager VARSHA have spent countless hours planning every step of our journey.  When presented with the package, we had the option of upgrading from four to five star accommodations for a sum total of $500.00.  We all agreed that $500.00 per couple was a paltry sum for twelve days of added luxury…. But we never thought that we would be staying in rooms with rack rates of $700.00 plus dollars.  There were many aspects of our trip to India that made it a trip of a lifetime – one of them was the beauty and opulence of our palaces and the pampering that five staff per guest permits.

That was trumped by having fourteen people who started the journey as three sets of two or three couple/friends and evolved into a large, close, happy and loving family (only without the dysfunction!).  THAT was trumped by being blessed with a DAMN AMAZING head of the family – Raghu, who tirelessly found the best deals at the most unique stores, gave us options for tour sites (he didn’t even show an iota of disappointment when we were palaced out and asked to skip the famous Crystal Palace), polled our every whims and wishes, leading us through amazing experiences with the warmth and attentive caring of a grandparents (only he’s only 30, really cute, has the best white-teethed brown faced smile in the world, is extremely intelligent and knowledgeable, and one of the warmest people ever).  We all howl when he cracks up hysterically every time he makes a joke – his laugh is very unique and it is TOTALLY infectious. 


 All of the above is hugely trumped by INDIA – an amazing country of at least ten different countries within, with different dialects (several hundred of them), vastly different foods, cultures, religions, standards of living…. mostly, a throw-back to a century or so, with no real sense that it will ever modernize to the point of having a Boston Pizza, phone wires don’t intertwine like spaghetti strands sprawling from roof to roof, or roads that don’t carry chaotic swarms of people cows, sheep, scooters, camels, elephants, cars, tut-tuks, rickshaws, buses, trucks, and whatevers… 


            It is our last day of this journey.  We spent yesterday in Udaipur – the City of Love – a beautiful city of 700,00.  It approximates what we would think of as a ‘normal’ of city in a non-North American country.  For the first time in almost two weeks (with the exception of Chatasagar), there is no pervasive smell of urine and cow dung… no fog or smog - only blue sky, sunshine, and fresh air.  We laugh at the stocks of Imodium, alka-seltzer, diaper wipes, toilet paper, power bars, Astronaut Food (like the freeze dried Beef Stew that Brian thought that he would eat after a few days of starvation because he did not want to risk getting sick from Indian food – he gave it away to one of the guides in the first week of the trip), etc. that is still in their original packages.  We wonder if Superstore will let us return them when we get home on Friday night.  We have all been deeply moved by this wonderful country, and vote for a change in the acronym INDIA to Incredible, Not for believing, Damn amazing, I want to come back, Awe inspiring INDIA.



Namaste
Cathy (And Alex Zimmer)

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The Charming City of Chennai, India



It was an unplanned trip to Chennai. I was in South India – the last leg of my India tour – but then my tour guide- Sam suggested that we take a detour and spend some time in Chennai. I’m glad I agreed.  The city will welcome you with clogged traffic, hot weather, smog and lots of people around but there is something humble about the city that actually will make you like it instantly.
kapaleeswarar temple in chennai
Kapaleeswarar temple in Chennai

Sam (Sambuddha) filled me in with a little history of the place. The city was a seat of power for many South Indian kingdoms through centuries. Then there were the British and the French colonial forces.  Today it is counted as one of the four metros cities of India. It’s an urban conglomerate with a maze of well connected roads and transport. The culture is strikingly different than any other Indian city and it is refreshing break.

It’s a city of intricately carved Hindu temples and structures, palaces. The Marina Beach boasts of being the longest stretch of beach in the country and it is beautiful. There is also the Covelong Beach and the Elliot’s Beach.  The city is not just about temples; there are some beautiful churches we well. San Thome Cathedral, Velankanni Church, St Mary’s Church are a must see. If you can, spend an evening in a Bharatnatyam dance recital. It is a classical dance form and very popular in this part of the country. From Chennai you could go site seeing in nearby places like Mahabalipuram, Dakshinachitra, Fort St George and Government Museum. Go on a small bazaar walking tour in the city – it is a great experience.  Witness how the craftsmen create such wonderful 12 yards of gorgeous silk saris.

The food is simple yet surprisingly mouthwatering. From crispy rice pancakes called dosa to soft and fluffy rice cakes – idlis with a side of sambar and hot chutney- it’s a treat for the palate. One flavor that you will definitely find in the food is coconut. From coconut sweets to banana chips fried in coconut oil, Chettinad Pepper Chicken cooked in coconut milk!  The filter coffee has a special edge to it. The people around are nice and friendly. It’s a pretty sight when you spot women wearing beautifully dark colored saris that look outright comfortable and easy to manage. Their long hairs are adorned with pretty white flowers. Don’t even think of trying to learn a phrase or two of Tamil just for laughs or to make communicating easier with the locals; it’s not going to happen.  The good thing – most of them understand English.
santhome cathedral church chennai
Santhome Cathedral Church Chennai

From the Senate House to the Kapaleeshwarar temple  War Memorial to Theme Parks, bars, pubs, cafes, movie halls on one hand, humble little eateries and temples and crowded busses on the other hand go hand in hand. You get the best of both worlds and that is what makes this place so special. My trip to Chennai only lasted four days but I can say I had a great time.

If you plan to visit South India sometime, do visit Chennai with Compass India Holidays. There are quite a few flights to India from Sydney and if you are looking for some great cheap deals – trust flightsaustralia.com.au to deliver to that promise a 100 percent. 
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North India Tour Reviews

Khajuraho Temple

Feedback by: Ms. Irene and Ms. Rosa

Tour: Best of North India Tour with Mumbai & Aurangabad

Nationality: Spanish

Tour Company: Compass India Holidays

Hi Compass India, We are perfectly alright, what happened was we came back at 8pm and we had to wake up at 6am to work! So u can imagine how we are….please pardon us for not replying to you earlier (which we will do in detail in the coming day) and to tell you in just how our trip was, it was marvelous but we have not been able to process the information received and the experiences lived for you! So we shall take it like this for now: i shall be in contact with you shortly again and will fill the info you asked me to fill and we shall send our comments.


What we want to tell you in advance is thanks you so much for all the attention received by you and all (the surprises included ) also during the trip.

You all are authentic professionals besides being marvelous people, starting from you and continuing to the representatives of Compass in India.

Many Many Thanx for treating us well, for taking care of u
s well, for making us feel very protected during the entire trip in India, for offering us the transfer services, the good professional guides and conductors and good people like you.

So as i said Vaishali let’s get together (on the phone) once again soon , will send the information and we shall select some photos.

A tight hug for you from the both of us.
Irene y Rosa

===================================================
Once back at home and back to our everyday life after spending nearly three fabulous weeks in India, we are getting in touch with you to make our comments.

We'll start by saying that our trip was wonderful, full of unforgettable experiences that we cannot forget, interesting people we have met during the tour, beautiful monuments that just by being in front of them and worth having gone there, etc..

But this perception would not have been the same without the help, professionalism and good organization of Compass India, from start to finish. We want to point out that true professionals are wonderful people as well, starting with Vaishali from Barcelona, with whom he always maintained smooth communication and we got a bit "dizzy" refining our final itinerary. She always told us that until we were not totally convinced and satisified we would not stop and this is how it was and went and was a success, thank you very much for everything Vaishali.


We continue to give thanks for the care (including surprises) throughout the journey to the representatives of Compass in India. By having treated us so well, for having taken good care of us, for making us feel so protected all the way. We believe the good image of an agency starts with the professional and personal qualities of its employee’s representatives, transfers, guides and drivers. And something important: having selected professionals from different religions has been very successful and they have given us the opportunity to have interesting conversations with them throughout the trip.


In Delhi: Thanks to the representatives of Compass, Jasvinder and Rahul for having welcomed India (including gift scarves). It was a meeting where there was a lot of humor on both sides and after meeting you felt very safe and knew that everything would be fine. Not only now, but during the tour were also in telephone contact with us to inquire how we were. Having said that we also want to pay special tribute to Radika. Even before going to India contacted us to welcome us and once there we contacted several times. With great kindness was pending that everything was perfect making us feel really good. Thank you very much for having done this Radika. It was the birthday of one of us and for the lovely surprise (flowers and cake) you gave us next to the transfer of Agra, really did not expect it. Thanks also to the guide who accompanied us and made everything possible for us to buy a phone card to communicate with Spain (photos and photocopies included). Also the transfer made by the guide we had the afternoon off in Delhi (when we returned from Amritsar and before your flight to Varanasi) enjoyed two Hindu temples that otherwise we would not have visited.

Golden Temple, India

We lived in Amritsar one of the most memorable experiences of the trip. Many thanks to guide for taking us Paramieet night to the Golden Temple to attend the ceremony of transfer of the holy book of the Sikhs. It was one of the experiences that startled us most of the trip: The Sikhs, their spirituality and their wonderful temple. Furthermore, we knew that in this city we had an English-speaking guide but there was no problem as he connected perfectly and communication flowed easily. In Varanasi and Sarnath had a terrific guide, both for its humane treatment as their special wisdom. He was accompanied by a driver also very special. In Jaipur we enjoyed a great guide for both its knowledge and its form of transmission. Thanks to unforgettable Amilal in Rajasthan. Although it was our driver, was also our best guide during long car trips, informing us at all times of the curiosities of the places we passed and constantly watching over us like a father is involved. Interestingly spoke English and we got along great. In Mumbai Sadik always we remember, contacted us on our transfer and in this city, being always aware that everything come out well and make us feel at ease. Many thanks also to details put at our disposal a car and driver on our last day off for shopping Mumbai.

We could continue on and on as in every place we discovered great people, Khajuraho, Orchha, Jhansi, Fatehpur Sikri, Ranakpur, where the local guide spoke very good English and adapted very well to us and there were no problems in Aurangabad. Besides enjoying the wonderful caves of Ajanta and Ellora, got the surprise of having a guide in Spanish although English was planned for trip.,...

With regard to hotels in general were all of high quality and perfectly reflected the required category. Where we find a deficiency (in Jaipur, Khajuraho in and that of Mumbai) is what we know at the same hotel in the final survey. Regarding the car, very comfortable, with air conditioning and noted that smelled great. Trains, as phenomenal, having clear that traveling in second class and it was not Europe, and gave us the opportunity to interact with interesting people and watch life go by in India ...

And to say goodbye cannot think of anything better to remind the driver that we were to receive the Varanasi airport. Once the introductions and after exchanging the first sentences in English, we got into the car and once inside and before starting the road to the hotel, he turned to us, smiled at us and told us good karma!, for exactly that reason we now want to tell all professionals of Indian Compass:

Good Karma and thank you so much for this this wonderful journey!

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Tours of India Reviews by Gloria from Spain

Feedback by : Glòria (Marc and Sylvia)

Country : Spain
Tour Taken: Trip to India from Spain

Hi Compass India Holidays , once again , Thankyou so ver much for your professionalism and support.
Marc and Silvia have returned very satisfied with the India trip and with all the people who attended them.
Special mention to the grand service and professionalism to the driver who took them around through the trip making it very exciting and interesting for them.The experience was very good for them.
I can surely tell you that if we decide to go to India, same with Silvia’s family o rus, we shall definetely contact you all.
My warm regards,Glòria
F6W52UCG9Y8T
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Current Issues Affecting the Tourism and Travelling in india


Hi All,

Greetings of the day!!!

Thanks for your mails and I understand your apprehension on the points in the subject of mails. As I am currently travelling in India it is best that all the issues explained in this blog post.

1. THE POWER ISSUE IN INDIA:

I have received more than 100 calls and even more mails regarding this in the last four days. Needless to say that the media has again blown this out of proportion. Personally, I have not faced any problem till now and have enjoyed continuous supply of electricity all over the places in North that I have been travelling through. In the last couple of days that I have been in the New Delhi Office there has not been any issue. The outside world must understand that almost 40% of India (mostly villages) do not have regular access to power as it is. If we consider the current population of India that works out to 500 million people. According to the world media (dependent on Indian media feeds) 600 million people are without power because of the grid failure so we are talking about extra 100 million only and I am not sure whether these people usually have continuous supply. Each and every friend, family and our guests currently living / travelling in India have enjoyed uninterrupted power. By now it is 90% restored and in another 12 hours they expect normalcy again. (That means 500 million people who do not have power would not have power). We pay our taxes and according to the current 5 year plan (India works on 5 year plans since it is a huge, backward and very populous country with a vast mix of culture and ethnicity) every year 50 million people would be added to the electricity grid.

2. THE TIGER ISSUE:

The decision of the Supreme Court goes against the very tenets of the Wildlife Protection Act of India as well as the National Tourism Policy of India. It also defies all logic as what it is saying is that it blames Tourism for all failures of Project Tiger India and also for the state of the Tiger in India today. This goes against all known scientific studies on the Conservation of Tigers which have clearly stated that poaching and habitat loss and fragmentation have led to the steep decline in Tiger numbers in the country. (In the last one year it has grown by 20% though)

The impact of this decision will be enormous as 53 Reserves in 17 states of India are affected. The loss of jobs to local communities at all levels of skill will be huge. In a majority of these areas, tourism is the only real source of income apart from rain-fed subsistence agriculture. For states like Madhya Pradesh, wildlife tourism is one of the most important sources of Income generation for the state. Not only will accommodation providers, park guides and safari vehicle drivers be affected but people like vegetable sellers, carpenters, masons, transportation providers, shop keepers, laundrymen etc. will lose their only source of livelihood. Stakeholders from across the country will be getting together to put a plea to the court to change the decision.

It is sad that the Court and NTCA chose to blame tourism instead of working with all stakeholders to conserve tigers. The slow alienation of the private sector, tourism industry, and concerned individuals from the Conservation of Tigers and their Habitat is a cause for grave concern. It is imperative that the Court recognizes the value of well managed and regulated tourism industry and focuses on defining better management plans, obtaining more resources, soliciting cooperation and implementing a strategy for development of lands within buffer zones of Parks.

It is suggested that the new guidelines as PROPOSED (word to be noted) by the National Tiger Conservation Authority of India (NTCA) will impact on all accommodation providers located within the buffer zones of Tiger Reserves. Luckily most of the resorts are located outside the buffer zone of all Tiger Reserves and so far will not be subjected to the new (proposed) cess and laws in the guidelines. Being in the industry for more than 20 years and having references in all Government and non-Government bodies relating to tourism, I would recommend that we all wait till the end of September to take any decisions. Once the judgment is received then we can work together to do all that is necessary. I am optimistic about the outcomes and suggest that for the next month we all continue our planning as normal. I do not want to go on record regarding this but am sure this is just a political move as most of these issues always are. The only difference is that because of an aggressive media more people come to know of it. The whole issue is just to appease a section of voters for winning a particular state or a few constituencies. (If I have to believe the high profile lawyers working on it then a "stay" or a "slightly modified paper" on this proposal is imminent)

3. ASSAM RIOTS:

India has a history of riots and the only good thing is that most of it has moved to the interiors of the country and only happen once in a while. (This means in another couple of years we would have seen the last of it) More people in India are killed in a year due to road accidents than in riots. I would not be worried about some riots (and people getting injured or killed) in some remote village of an unimportant place in the country. I am not being heartless here - it is a fact that this riot is because of some refugees crossing over from Bangladesh into India and eating away the livelihood of the villagers on Indian side. Please do not forget that the population of India is 1.2 billion (maybe 1.3 while I am writing this email) and that even after all these deaths due to riots, child deaths, floods, famines, female foeticide, accidents, fires, etc. Moreover, the growth engine is chugging along at around 6% which is almost that of China. The Indian middle class is also the biggest market in the world with the maximum number of domestic consumption and tourism.

CONCLUSION:

After having travelled through a large part of the world (some developed and some not) and after having lived in all types of cities I would not feel unsafe in India. It is not because I am an Indian but because I know how INDIA works. India would not get into something like an ARAB SPRING or it would not become a communist FACTORY and will keep growing in a sensible manner. The Indian BANKS are safe, the GOVERNMENT is rich & flush with funds, the middle class is growing, the INFRASTRUCTURE is developing rapidly, the REAL ESTATE is growing at a faster rate than CHINA for the last ten years (real estate in New Delhi or Mumbai is more expensive than in London or NYC), factory workers are earning more wages, UNEMPLOYMENT is at its lowest (quite a feat with a huge population) and an ever growing middle class with more & more buying power together are helping the economy grow. We should not forget that almost half of the top ten hotels in the world are in India. (reference CONDE NAST & TRAVELLERS)

COMPASS has historically grown 50% year on year and this year we are poised to grow at 100% (the first quarter reports just came in) - we are still focussed and a big THANKS to you all for being there. I will of course, keep you abreast of all happenings and will work with you to ensure that things go as smoothly as possible over the coming months.

You could all send in your mails, share this post and even share my coordinates with your friends if the need be. It will be my pleasure to be of any help.

Sincere regards,
durjay sengupta
Founder & CEO
COMPASS - The Hospitality Managers

Compass India Holidays P.L.
Ground Floor, 35 Link Road,
New Delhi - 110024, India.
Ph: +91 11 41602116
Fax: +91 11 41602115
WEB: www.compasstours.com

Compass India, Inc.,
12th Floor,
1501, Broadway, Times Square,
New York - 10036, USA.
Ph: +1 646 701 0097 / 646 571 2245
Fax: +1 917 591 2901
Toll Free: +1 877 772 6672
www.compassindiainc.com

Compass India (UK) Ltd.,
Compass India (UK) Limited
Kajaine House
57-67 High Street, Edgware
Greater London, HA8 7DD
Ph: +44 208 908 6573
Fax: +44 208 711 6056
Toll Free: +44 800 731 5567
www.compassindiainc.co.uk

Compass Vacations S.L.
Calle Balmes 7, 1erD ,
Barcelona 08007 Spain
Phone: +34 933010792
Fax: +34 933043998
www.compassindiainc.es
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