Tourist harrassment. Whats wrong with India ?

[Neo]

How long can one fool the west? Pictures speak more than words, what more proof do we need that innocent civilians, specially women and children are vicoms of attrocities of IA.

 

[Neo]

Sense of unease on India’s most famous beach ​

By Soutik Biswas

Four decades after the foreigners arrived, Anjuna’s hippy reputation appears to be backfiring

A sense of unease can be felt on India’s most famous beach village after news washed up that a teenage British girl was raped and left to die in the sea last month.

Two local men have been arrested in connection with Scarlett Keeling’s death in Anjuna in Goa. Anjuna, famous for its grubby shacks, crescent-shaped beaches, crowded flea markets, drug-fuelled parties and ayurveda spas is in the news again - for all the wrong reasons. Turnout at the once-a-week 3,000-shop, 38-year-old flea market selling anything from tribal jewellery to thongs has been thin. Shacks selling food and alcohol have fewer guests and revellers.

Even the live bands with names like Kundalini Airport and Bindoo Babas have been turning down the volume when night falls.

‘Mind altering qualities’: “Scarlett’s killing has affected tourism here, for sure. Suddenly things are very quiet,” says 61-year-old Manohar Singh, who was born in India, brought up in Zanzibar and holds a British passport. Anjuna was discovered by hippie travellers in the 1960s, a time when there was “much interest in the mind-altering qualities of India,” according to Arun Saldhana, who teaches geography at the University of Minnesota and has written a book on the place.

“It was defined by its psychedelic culture and family-run guest houses, a freak and backpackers hangout, rather than the [many] charter tourist hangouts [of Goa],” he says. The 13-sq km beach village hemmed in by lush hills is where, according to another old-timer, foreign tourists went to “escape India”. Resting in a village in Anjuna during a visit in the mid-1960s, Graham Greene “found it possible to forget the poverty of Bombay (now called Mumbai), 400 miles away, the mutilated beggars, the lepers... “

Anjuna’s palm-lined beaches gave birth to a homegrown electronic dance music, called Goa trance, before house and techno music grew roots in the early 1990s.

Distortions: The place was seen by many as a secluded, whites-only haven for hippies, who according to Arun Saldhana, could “freely indulge in drugs, sun bathing and all night full moon parties”. The early 1980s were possibly the high point in the beach’s chequered history - hippies, punks, artists, Rastafarians, devotees of new-age gurus all hung out here, swapping drugs, music and sexual partners. The Anjuna subculture saw tourists bending rules and bribing local officials.

Beach shack owner Francis Fernandes remembers the hippies taking over parts of the beaches and putting up ‘Indians are not allowed’ signs to keep away the locals. “Once some foreigners began a beach rave party on a Good Friday without any permission. We stormed the party and smashed it up,” he says. A third of Goa’s residents are Catholic Christians. British novelist Deborah Moggach even spoke about what she called the “touristic caste system” in Anjuna, alluding to the Indian caste system.

“The Brahmins (uppermost in India’s caste hierarchy) are the old hippies... They whizz around on old Enfields - how superior people look on motorbikes!” she wrote. “They have long ropes of hair, washboard stomachs and low slung sarongs... At the lowest rank are package deal tourists”.

Rising abuse: Four decades after the foreigners arrived, Anjuna’s hippy reputation appears to be backfiring. Its only hospital, a 20-bed private operation, treats an increasing number of drug overdose cases. Seventeen of the 74 foreigners who have died in Goa in the past two years were in Anjuna, and 11 of them are suspected to be have died of drug abuse. “Drug abuse cases have risen here since I came here seven years ago,” says Dr Pravin Tippat, who works at the hospital.

Anjuna even has a detox and rehab clinic, run by a NGO, which reports high drug and alcohol abuse in the area. “We get foreigners every month coming to help for drug abuse. People are taking all kinds of drugs,” says Pamela D’ Costa, who works there. Though the police talk about record drug seizures, successfully banning nude sun bathing and cleaning up the place, it has not really been successful. It is still easy to get drugs.

At the almost completely foreigners-only beach where Scarlett was murdered, women sunbath on deckchairs with cows and stray dogs for company.

Victim of success: In the end, Anjuna appears to have become a victim of its own warped success - foreign tourists, scorned by many Goans as “white trash”, have lifted living standards of the locals, but material progress has come at a high cost. Leading Indian designer and Goa resident Wendell Rodricks describes Anjuna as a “dark spot”. “I don’t go there. It is a place that is hung over from the 1960s, but sadly with more potent drugs than hashish,” he says.

“The government should restore the reputation of the village and the dignity of its residents.” Clearly, the more innocent days of hippie lifestyle - full-moon parties, psychedelic drugs, growing vegetables - which launched Anjuna as a favourite destination are over. These days, as a British writer said recently, the “place gives me the creeps with its Western-driven drugs culture.” courtesy bbc news

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[ashfaque]

by the way i wasn't laughing at women being raped, i was laughing because a few weeks ago i had a quarrel with some people on this forum about this stuff happening everywhere. I mentioned that this is ruining the image of india, so after seeing your posts i wanted remind everyone i was right.

If you really track news, then see NDTV, they interviewed many tourists in Goa about their safety and they agreed that Goa is very safe place, they also said this kind of unfortunate things happen every where across the world.

Though I believe, Gov has to look into the matter, or you can say Gov(s) are forced to look into the matter due major media coverage about these incidents. But in the situation where major accident happened, media becomes hyperactive and start report even smallest incidents in bigger way and give wrong picture which is absolutely not a reality.

Now it depends upon individual to access the situation and decide their trip to particular location, but I can confidently say Goa and other part of India is safe and tourists can come without fear.

And any person can understand that one news from here and one from there, does not generalize the situation, its all propaganda to give India and bad name. And for your kind information the victim's mother has expressed her willing to stay in Goa for life time, and no one would like to stay life time at unsafe place.

Lastly no one is in denial mode, I am sure victim's family will get due justice at land, and Gov is taking all majors to make the places safe for tourists.

Thanks,
Ashfaque

 

[solid snake]

I know how to deal with these types of molesters. Jail them for life. Make an example out of them, and then any locals will think twice about harrassing any foreign tourists.

Also, off-topic comment, but the Indian English accent is distinctly different from ours. We are closer to the British accent than they are.

 

[Bushroda]

The main problem is the heavy influx of foreign tourists. Government's 'Incredible India' campaign has been hugely successful but they didn't bother investing credibly in developing Infrastructure & security network at popular tourist destinations. In my opinion there is a need for a special police dept to handle tourist complaints & providing them with credible information. Also, government has to properly network the hotel chains & upgrade the infrastructure. Hotels should take the responsibility on themselves to provide registered guides to batch of tourists. Such incidents have happened in east asian countries after they emerged on tourism map in early 90s. But with time they handled the problem & It is India's turn now to do the same.

 

[A.Rahman]

Also, off-topic comment, but the Indian English accent is distinctly different from ours. We are closer to the British accent than they are.

They follow the Apu english.
Hate those telemarketers.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

Horny people all around!

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

I know how to deal with these types of molesters. Jail them for life. Make an example out of them, and then any locals will think twice about harrassing any foreign tourists.

Also, off-topic comment, but the Indian English accent is distinctly different from ours. We are closer to the British accent than they are.

You must be joking!

Check the English in this forum itself! Such fragmented English takes the cake! Pidgin, to be precise!

And the spellings!! Punjabi accent written all over!

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

They follow the Apu english.
Hate those telemarketers.

And you follow the Pappaji English!

 

[EagleEyes]

Salim,

There is no such thing as Punjabi accent. There is no accent for most Pakistanis.

At worst, they can't speak proper English.

See our cricketers!

As far as sexual harassment is concerned. Its getting weird in the sub-continent, mainly because when they see something new.. they jump to get it. All of that is influenced by western channels in our countries. Our girls can't satisfy that, hence the reaction. No offense meant, just speaking logically!

Rest assure you. Cover your heads and body.. no one shall harm you.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

Salim,

There is no such thing as Punjabi accent. There is no accent for most Pakistanis.

Great,

In India there is and I am glad Pakistanis don't have the same even if they are from the Punjab. Spellings on this forum however indicate a different story!

At worst, they can't speak proper English.

See our cricketers!

But the first sentences are in English and very akin to the accent of the Punjabis of India!

As far as sexual harassment is concerned. Its getting weird in the sub-continent, mainly because when they see something new.. they jump to get it. All of that is influenced by western channels in our countries. Our girls can't satisfy that, hence the reaction. No offense meant, just speaking logically!

Rest assure you. Cover your heads and body.. no one shall harm you.

Maybe your are right.

However, total cover in this hot climate is killing!

 

[IceCold]

Spellings on this forum however indicate a different story!

Even the americans make mistakes sometimes while writing if you go for spelling to judge someone for his/her english speaking or writing capability.

Just like the word indigenous has somesort of holly spiritual blessings for the indians making them feel on top of the world, i guess speaking and writing english also holds the same.

 

[solid snake]

You must be joking!

Check the English in this forum itself! Such fragmented English takes the cake! Pidgin, to be precise!

And the spellings!! Punjabi accent written all over!

Spelling and accent are two different things. Secondly, this forum is Pakistani, so you get a more diverse variety of Pakistanis here than Indians. What I mean is, here you will find young Pakistanis and those who can't speak English well. But most Indians who come here are professionals of some sort so of course their English skills are expected to be better than the young noobs.

As for the accent, compare your news channel clip in the first post with this:

yJylX7Vg_Ic[/media] - Breakfast Dawn News Items 3-october-2007

And like I said before, India should make an example out of anyone who harasses tourists. It could put a severe dent on Indias tourism industry if India gets the image of an unsafe country for women.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

Spelling and accent are two different things.

Not really.

'Astanish' for 'Astonish' indicates the accent!

If India is unsafe for tourists, then they should not come. That would teach the tourist industry a lesson to ensure things are picture perfect.

 

[irfan1173]

Salim,
There is no accent for most Pakistanis.

AoA
If you talk like british or anybody else in US unlike the americans you have an accent. Similarly in australia if you talk like american or indian or anybody else you have an accent. To claim that pakistanis dont have accent is not true. Most south asians not born in US for what I have seen pretty much have an heavy accent. The level may differ depending upon how long you are in states and what kind of schooling you had back home.