As I'd said earlier, my outing abroad was the first in my capacity as a private citizen. It was a great experience and has egged me on to future outings. I'd like to share my innermost thoughts based on the sights and sounds that were experienced and so, here I go:-
(a) Indians have taken on to globe trotting and the touring crowd cuts across age and background. I was
particularly happy to note that there's a nice sprinkling of Malayalees on such pleasure trips. Not long
ago, there was this tendency among the government employees, especially, of claiming their LTC
allowances, use a small portion of it to do a local tour and deposit the remainder into their personal
bank accounts! It's indeed a great transformation of the mindset!!
(b) Amplifying on the point above, we'd come across three groups at Colombo during our onward transit
that were headed to the following destinations:-
(i) an all Malayalee group to Thailand.
(ii) again an all Malayalee group for a comprehensive tour of Sri Lanka and
(iii) a north Indian group to Malaysia and Singapore.
(c) But our habits die hard. Most people on such jaunts give emphasis to shopping while giving the go by
to sight seeing which, according to me, should be priority! Probably, I might be exaggerating the
phenomenon but let me put down what I'd seen at Colombo. There was a sizeable crowd among
the gentlemen who were lugging carry bags containing scotch - probably, it's their choice and I'm no
prude to laugh at them!!
(d) On the flip side what's the general impression that the hosts of the visiting countries have about the
Indian tourist? I must admit that my inputs are based on what I'd gathered from the ordinary men
and women with whom I'd the privilege of interacting with, during my short stint with them:-
(i) he's a tight fist spender. The habit of tipping is absent.
(ii) he tends to 'ignore' people like the driver, house keeping staff at hotels etc because of the feel that
they're meant to do their jobs and a word of appreciation was unnecessary.
(iii) he washes his personal wear and leaves them to dry, often with negative results ending up with
an all too pervading stench of clothes that refuse to dry in the airtight air conditioned rooms.
(iv) he makes tea/coffee directly in the kettles meant for boiling water!
I'd like to believe that many of these 'faults' are actually caused out of ignorance and definitely not out of defiance of the system. And over a period of time, the Indian tourist shall also learn!
Tailpiece.
1. It's back to the normal routine out here. Soon after work today, I'd made a dash to my sister's place at Palakkad to get mom back and we'd returned an hour after sunset. She needs to go for her doctor's review tomorrow!
2. Our friend from Muscat has dropped in to spend a day with us. It was a blast to the past yet again!!
(a) Indians have taken on to globe trotting and the touring crowd cuts across age and background. I was
particularly happy to note that there's a nice sprinkling of Malayalees on such pleasure trips. Not long
ago, there was this tendency among the government employees, especially, of claiming their LTC
allowances, use a small portion of it to do a local tour and deposit the remainder into their personal
bank accounts! It's indeed a great transformation of the mindset!!
(b) Amplifying on the point above, we'd come across three groups at Colombo during our onward transit
that were headed to the following destinations:-
(i) an all Malayalee group to Thailand.
(ii) again an all Malayalee group for a comprehensive tour of Sri Lanka and
(iii) a north Indian group to Malaysia and Singapore.
(c) But our habits die hard. Most people on such jaunts give emphasis to shopping while giving the go by
to sight seeing which, according to me, should be priority! Probably, I might be exaggerating the
phenomenon but let me put down what I'd seen at Colombo. There was a sizeable crowd among
the gentlemen who were lugging carry bags containing scotch - probably, it's their choice and I'm no
prude to laugh at them!!
(d) On the flip side what's the general impression that the hosts of the visiting countries have about the
Indian tourist? I must admit that my inputs are based on what I'd gathered from the ordinary men
and women with whom I'd the privilege of interacting with, during my short stint with them:-
(i) he's a tight fist spender. The habit of tipping is absent.
(ii) he tends to 'ignore' people like the driver, house keeping staff at hotels etc because of the feel that
they're meant to do their jobs and a word of appreciation was unnecessary.
(iii) he washes his personal wear and leaves them to dry, often with negative results ending up with
an all too pervading stench of clothes that refuse to dry in the airtight air conditioned rooms.
(iv) he makes tea/coffee directly in the kettles meant for boiling water!
I'd like to believe that many of these 'faults' are actually caused out of ignorance and definitely not out of defiance of the system. And over a period of time, the Indian tourist shall also learn!
Tailpiece.
1. It's back to the normal routine out here. Soon after work today, I'd made a dash to my sister's place at Palakkad to get mom back and we'd returned an hour after sunset. She needs to go for her doctor's review tomorrow!
2. Our friend from Muscat has dropped in to spend a day with us. It was a blast to the past yet again!!
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