Travelure
By Hugh & Colleen Gantzer
A steroid is a chemical used by the body and sometimes used by athletes to improve their performance. Our recently concluded General Elections acted like a powerful steroid. It could propel India into the top performing nations of the world and keep it there for an entire century. India can and should replicate Switzerland. That little alpine country produces world renowned chocolates without growing cocoa or sugar. It makes fine watches without producing its own steel. We in India, have all the resources but all we need is to bring those resources together. Today, our General Elections have propelled three people into positions of authority. These three, working together, without ego hassles, should release the high potential of our beautiful, sub-continental country.
Nitish Kumar has the trust of the tribal people who trace their ancestry to the original inhabitants of India. Their traditional knowledge, customs and traditions have enabled them to survive to this day. In Mussoorie we have personally experienced the almost miraculous effect of such traditional science. Working in our garden, one of us sustained a cut which bled profusely. One of our staff plucked a leaf from a weed growing wild on our property. She placed it on the wound and, almost miraculously, the bleeding stopped. Two days later there was no trace of even the scar of the cut. We know of many such examples of belief, that modern science would dismiss as superstition. We also know that the effectiveness of quinine and Viagra were known to tribal people long before they were accepted by our highly trained doctors.
We believe that Mr Nitish Kumar’s access to such Adivasi law will add enormously to the accumulated knowledge available to all Indians. Such ancient wisdom will reach far beyond medicines and include the entire gamut of natural sciences. This will help to strengthen the environment of India, and the world which is being threatened by the exploiting practices of modern industry.
The second important cog in the wheel of progress is our Prime Minister. Mr Modi and his Gujarati community have inherited skills in organising trade and industry. These inherited abilities go back to the manufacturing and exporting cities of Dholavira and Lothal. They were town planners and builders of such remarkable skills that we have only now, thousands of years later, been able to replicate them. Their Gujarati descendants still enjoy step-wells based on the ancient technique. Their food habits, particularly farsan and the fact that their meals normally start with a sweet, reveals tradition designed to serve traders wandering into distant lands. We need these traditional skills to expand and sustain the international trading interest of India.
Thirdly, there is Mr Chandrababu Naidu. He is a politician who was often referred to x as The Chief Executive Officer of a Cyber Empire. His political party is the Telegu Desam. It is significant that many people believe that the unofficial lingua franca of America’s Silicon Valley is Telegu.
In short, the three leading politicians brought together by the latest General Elections have collected access to the greatest knowledge bank available to humans today. Our Prime Minister has rightly been called ‘The Great Enabler’. He is now in the unique position of being able to bring together the three great arms of knowledge of the past, the present and the future. Never before in the entire history of the world has such an opportunity been given to a single nation. If we squander it now, because of threatened ego hassles, future generations of Indians will not forgive our netas. If, however, we grab this opportunity firmly by the horns, there will be no looking back.
When we wrote that last line, a disturbing thought struck us. Perhaps Mr Modi needs a righthand man to assist him in this project. Then he could call upon the services of skilled administrator Amitabh Kant. We used to meet Amitabh frequently when both he and we were involved in tourism. But then our professions parted. Amitabh, however, went on to make waves when he became the Sherpa and the great gift giving Santa Claus of the G-20.
Together Nitish Kumar, Narendra Modi, Chandrababu Naidu and Amitabh Kant could make this The Century of India.
(Hugh & Colleen Gantzer hold the National Lifetime Achievement Award for Tourism among other National and International awards. Their credits include over 52 halfhour documentaries on national TV under their joint names, 26 published books in 6 genres, and over 1,500 first-person articles, about every Indian state, UT and 34 other countries. Hugh was a Commander in the Indian Navy and the Judge Advocate, Southern Naval Command. Colleen is the only travel writer who was a member of the Travel Agents Association of India.) (The opinions and thoughts expressed here reflect only the authors’ views!).
