Why are there so many tourists here?

No offense to Kolkatans, but your city doesn’t really offer that much for tourists. It’s large, crowded, decaying, and other than the Victoria memorial, doesn’t contain many important sites. There are a few plusses–good bookshops and Bengali cuisine, but none of this warrants more than a couple days here. I can’t compare it to Delhi or Mumbai, but I know I would trade it for Hyderabad any day.

Yet the city is teeming with tourists. I went to one restaurant in the tourist enclave of Sudder St., and there were literally two Indians there, young girls who were obviously there because of the tourists. On some streets, almost person is either a tourist or an Indian trying to sell them something. Where’s the appeal in that?

Moreover, these tourists totally miss the experiences that can be had elsewhere. They eat in crummy overpriced restaurants (the “paneer vegetable” looked like it came from a TV dinner) and miss out on the local flair. The Bengali restaurants down the street are good, authentic and cheap, but foreigners–apparently–fear to tread. Kolkata is known around the country for its sweets, but in most of the tourist neighborhood, it’s impossible to find anything even remotely authentic. I feel genuinely bad for the people who come to India and think this is what it’s about.

Worst of all, the tourists in the city aren’t even friendly. They all keep to themselves and hurry about their eating, shopping, sight-seeing, etc. Not that those are bad things, but if you’re going to do a half-assed job of experiencing the culture, at least make some friends doing it. I went to the tourist restaurant with the specific purpose of trying to meet some fellow foreigners, and I didn’t even get so much as a glance or a smile from anyone there.

I just don’t understand why the tourists are still here. It’s like they’re wading in the shallow end, afraid to go out and really swim like they said they would. In any case, I’m glad I’m getting out of town tonight.

Maybe it has to do with all the hash I got offered walking down Sudder Street…

Posted on August 21st, 2005 by Lee
Filed under: Uncategorized