Yesterday was a good end to a wonderful trip. I finally managed to bathe in the cold water of Ganges in Haridwar. People would claim that the water is not clean but I guess that is fine with me. I don't think there is any better experience in India than taking a bath in the cold water from the Himalayan snow....and ambiance is fantastic. So I take my dips along with a lot of other people, say whatever prayers I still remember and enjoy the wonderful chill in an otherwise simmering heat outside the river. I come back after 30 minutes in the river and then have a breakfast of mangoes. The variety is Dashari, predominant variety found in Uttar Pradesh. These taste specially good because I know that soon I will be relegated to tasteless, odourless Mexican mangoes in Ralps/Vons...
On the drive from Delhi to Haridwar, I also got to see the action which Tier 2 cities in India are experiencing. Lots of malls coming up, people thronging to wherever they can spend money and still it seems, they are not getting enough. I thought it was true about my hometown Jaipur as well. People in these cities get exposed to marketing campaigns which people in Bangalore, Delhi also see but when they want to spend the money, only a fraction is possible.If you want to find a 200 rupees/plate Dal Fry in Jaipur, you would either need to go to 5 star hotels or you can count the same 4-5 restaurants on your finger tips.I am convinced that the real action moving forward would be in these cities( at least in terms of return on investment though big cities continue to offer as well)
So at the end of it, I am wondering if I'm ready to sing a prayer from my catholic school which went something like...
"Coming home, coming home,
Nevermore to roam,
Open wide Thine arms of love,
Lord, I’m coming home"
1 comment:
so I take it that the Paap ka ghada which was bursting when u left LA is now clean and ready to start refilling again ;-)
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