Tasneem Kabir
Introduction to rural tourism
In today’s capitalistic, competition-driven world, the factor that sells is ‘novelty’ – how new, original or unique the product or service you offer is. This is true even of the services provided by the tourism sector and more so in India wherein tourism is constantly trying to market the country’s diverse cultures and landscapes. Further, the consumers, in their quest for novelty, are open to multiple tourist practices that would have seemed insane some time ago, and this has vested tremendous potential in the field of rural tourism. The basis of this appeal is the fact that rural settlements, due to limited effects of globalization on them, do an excellent job in retaining and maintaining up to this day ancient customs and traditions along with the preservation of ethnographic artifacts. Even as we often worry about how our rural locations need to be modernized, we need to try and look at the silver lining: the rural culture of a place can be well exploited to bring about a surge in the tourism industry, if combined with a prudent and well-planned strategy. Besides, a direct contact with village life would also encourage tourists to embrace the rural attitude of working in harmony with nature.
CURRENT SCENARIO
In recent times, we have seen the Government taken cognizance of this trend popular around the world, and have worked on adopting similar projects. The most recent of such endeavors is the project under which 81 villages in Uttarakhand will be developed as ‘tourist villages’ where locals will be provided training sessions on cooking, hospitality and guided tours. This move has largely been taken with the aim of limiting migration from the hills and generating ways of income for the locals. In these villages, many houses are found lying abandoned due to migration. These houses are to be converted into home stays, which are places where people come over for holidays and stay with a local family, after being registered with the tourism department. Further, provision will be made for those villages willing to run home stays to acquire subsidized loans under state government schemes.
Moreover, the development of infrastructure in rural areas having potential for tourism is being supported under the existing scheme of destination development. The objective is to showcase rural life, art, culture and heritage at rural locations and in villages, which have core competence in art & craft, handloom, and textiles. The Village Level Council (VLC) is the interactive forum for local community participation in work plan implementation, alongside other community level institutions. For the visitor, whose expenditure creates revenue for host community service providers; rural tourism adds value through packaged programmes in art & craft imparted by skilled local artisans. Village entertainment groups unveil local history and culture, natural and oral treasures. The visitor thus comes face to face with India’s rural traditions. So far, 153 rural tourism projects in 28 States/Union Territories have been sanctioned by the Ministry of Tourism including 36 rural sites where the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has lent its support for capacity building.
Tourism growth potential can be harnessed as a strategy for rural development. The development of a strong platform around the concept of Rural Tourism is definitely useful for a country like India, where almost 74% of the population resides in its 7 million villages. Across the world, the paradigms of industrialization and development have had an urban-centric approach. Alongside, the stresses of Anurban lifestyle have led to a “counter-urbanization” syndrome, leading to rising interest in the rural areas. On the other hand, the system of urbanization has led to falling income levels, lesser job opportunities in the rural areas, leading to an “urbanization-syndrome” in the villages. Clearly, the grass always looks greener on the other side! Rural Tourism is one of the few activities which can provide a solution to these problems. Besides, there are other factors which are shifting attention towards rural tourism – growing interest in heritage and culture, improved accessibility via transport and environmental consciousness. In the developed countries, this has resulted in a new regime of tourism wherein visiting village settings to experience and live a relaxed and healthy lifestyle is the idea. This concept has now formally been incorporated as Rural Tourism.
RURAL TOURISM IN KASHMIR
A profound case can be made for bringing this concept of advanced, home stay tourism to Kashmir. This is because there has been a very concentrated maintenance of the culture of village and community life in Kashmir, owing to the remote terrains that allow for minimal intervention by tourists as well as industrialists. The foremost draw to the Kashmiri culture is the unspoiled forests, streams and brooks that line Kashmiri villages. With India speedily advancing into the lists of the most polluted countries in the world, places like these come in a fragrant breath of fresh air. Further, if tourists were to visit during times of harvest, they would actually get to see for themselves the grit and hard-work that goes into growing and sourcing apples, walnuts and saffron of the finest quality appreciated the world over. If interested, the tourists could even get their hands stained with the gold that farmers call mud and assist in the menial tasks of farms and orchards. That would keep the trend of novelty alive and would create for the tourists a box full of memories.
Secondly, given to the fact that Kashmir is one of the few places receiving snowfall in the largely tropical country of India, may also attract more tourists in winters. Incidentally, this is also the period that Kashmiri culture is at its most unique. Families start bringing out their kangris, gather coal for their hamaams and sit down on carpeted floors to have the traditional pink, salted tea with the entire family in attendance. This tea time also becomes the period that binds every busy member of the family together, providing time for discussions and merrymaking. This merriment is made further joyous by the fact that Kashmiri families are usually very large. Even today, it is rare to find a Kashmiri couple with less than three kids! More the merrier, right? Now that the world is rapidly turning into this detached space that focuses on mercantilism and lets family spirit and the cherishing-the-little-moments attitude take a back seat, it would do well for urban tourists to see this familial spirit in action. Perhaps, they could take back home some a piece of this enormous sentiment.
Further, those of us who currently live in Kashmir or have lived here for most part of our lives can vouch for the fact that life here is very relaxed and the pace of the day is gentle and unrushed. This deliberate passing of time becomes more pronounced in the villages, and they would be more than willing to paint tourists in these colours of moderation. This brings us to the ‘bon appétit’ way of life of Kashmir. With an impressive array of delicacies that Kashmiris have for every meal of the day as well as the evening high-tea are a constant source of commendation for the residents, and what could possibly sound better for a tourist looking for means of escapade to just find himself surrounded by warm people and a traami (large platter) full of the choicest, juiciest and most-delectable dishes of meat in shapes and spice-variations he could only dream of, all while surrounded by greenery of the most sublime kind.
CONCLUSION
In summation, this project holds a barrel full of possibilities for the state of Jammu and Kashmir for various reasons. It would also aid in bringing in various employment opportunities, even for those not very educated. But, the deeper question to worry about is the increasing isolation that villages of Kashmir experience, largely due to increasing xenophobia and remote location. This isolation leads the youth to take up arms and insurgency, for lack of something better to do. Also, with an influx of people from far afar, the residents will gain exposure to the world outside and it may spark in them a desire to advance to greater milestones of achievement. We hope that, with the arrival of home stay tourism to the villages in the Valley, a correction routine will be initiated for these problems. The intention is to benefit the local community economically and socially as well as enable interaction between tourists and local population for a mutually enriching experience.
