This time when I was in Shringi Vatika in Himachal Pradesh (March, 2007) I had this conversation with a young lad in his twenties. The conversation took place in Hindi but in spirit, here is how it went.
Young Lad: I wanted to ask you the last time itself but didn’t get time. See, I completed my 12th a few years back and now I am wondering what should I do. Do you think doing a computer course would help. There is a private institute in Banjar (nearest town).
Me: Umm, what do you want to do the course for? As a help for your own business (he and his family own a small business) or what?
Young Lad: But doesn’t your husband work in the private sector in a computer job?
Me: Yes, he does, but he is an engineer …
Young lad: So where did he study?
Me: An engineering college, called umm IIT …
Young Lad: I know ITI …
Me: Err … IIT is different … but … he is basically an engineer …
Young lad: So, what do you think? Shall I do the course?
Me: Do you know someone who has done this course?
Young Lad: Yes …
Me: So, what are they doing now?
Young lad: I have not seen the few that I know getting any jobs …
Me: Why don’t you do an English speaking course? There are many jobs in the call centers.
Young lad: I think doing an English speaking course makes a lot of sense … even for dealing with foreign tourists.
Me: And call center jobs are plentiful …
Young lad: But what is it that you are talking about, what is a call center?
Me: … Ummm … a call center is … let me see … when you have a problem with your phone company or you want to know something from your bank, you call this place where people are paid to answer phone calls …
Young lad: I will have to think more about it, but seems like a better idea, I anyway do not like computers much …
Me: But why don’t you stay here? You will not like a bigger city for sure.
Young lad: Tourism is very uncertain, seasonal …
Me: But in the next 10 years it can only grow in this region … kaam nahin hoga (it is not going to go down) …
The person becomes thoughtful and then we start talking about something else.
I have no concrete solution for the person I talked to. But I do have a wish, that people who want to make a decent living may not always be forced to move to a bigger city. May he find courage to stay back and develop his own business and may the tourism in the region grow. I know, that would mean more crowd and litter but when it comes to making a living vs. crowd, I don’t know what to wish for.
Would you go there if it got crowded?
Mridula, nice conversation. and it should be good for him to learn english. on other thought, wont that place also become like big city if it gets crowded.having lived in cities like b’lore/h’bad and seen them growing, one thing that i fear a lot is thought of a small cool place become maddening big city.saddest thing is even indore (my native place) has become like that in past few years.
hmmm, quite thoughtful.
He could do a course in tourism. Tell him if you get to meet him again. It makes a lot of sense to educate them about organized and planned tourism. And suggesting to learn English was a good thing too.Have known an NGO(The Mountain Institute) in Sikkim(Kanchenjunga Natl Park) which has worked on sustainable tourism initiatives with the help of locals and it was a great success. Besides organizing the local folks they also worked towards ways to attract tourists, web enabling the locals, helping with marketing initiatives etc. Some info at http://www.mountain.org/work/himalayas/sikkim.cfmSurely, you did not want him to join a call center I guess 🙂
Mridula, through our help group we are trying to reach to youths like him, but problem right now is Internet, as we can be reached via Internet or phones, so its hard for people like him to reach their fellow Himachalis who are there to guide and help for various job/business related queries. I hope people on this forum suggest how do we reach to people on ground so as to help them. Please check: http://himachal.us more to see what all we are trying!
I quite agree with Arun. Its very rare to see organized and planned tourism activities in India
Apurva (Madhat) that is the dilemma, if the place gets too few tourists, people struggle to make a living, if there are too many, the place looses its charm, at least for me. Not sure what to wish for.Arun, thanks for sharing the Sikkim info. I surely wish that people should be able to make a living anywhere in our country and not only in the cities.Nilesh, I perfectly well understand what you are saying.Thanks, Ketan.My Himachal, I have the person’s contact number. Maybe, i should mail it to you.Thanks for sharing your thoughts Prashanth, There is so much potential for tourism in our country …
very nice write-up. It is a dilemma, this question of how much growth. Personally I favor growth, even it means some crowd, though it would be good if the growth is managed well, i.e. no litter/hotels only in selected authorised areas etc.
Please do send us details, so that we can contact the person and may be help!
Making an honest living can be tough, whether in a city or a town or village!