Mark Twain on India: “India is the cradle of human race, birthplace of human speech, mother
of history, the grandmother of legend, & great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable &
most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.”
India has enough intrinsic natural beauty which is not explored yet and it has a big treasure trove
in terms of age old culture, tradition, manuscripts, historical places, religious places and pristine
beautiful islands like Lakshdweep in the Arabian Sea and the Andaman and Nicobar in the Gulf
of Bengal, Majuli Island in Assam, Rameswaram Island in Tamil Nadu, Elephanta Island in
Mumbai, Sundarbans in West Bengal and many more. But the question is that we ever had faith
and tried to conserve our own civilization and our rich culture which was entrusted to us by the
Indus Valley civilization, sages of Vedic era who gifted us Vedas, Upnishads, or high values of
our intellectuals like Swami Vivekanand, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Jyotirao Phule, the
mesmerizing architect of golden age of Gupta period and last but can’t be the least ,sacred places
given by God. People are going on vacations to foreign lands and islands to show off their tans
and boast on social media which not only snatch the opportunity to manifest our beautiful divine
places but also hinders the engine of economic growth. Now it’s not the time to snooze the alarm
but to wake up and open the reliquary of the hidden gems of our country and brag them on an
international level and tell not only to the Indians but also the entire world, “Dekho, Bharat
Dekho”.
We need to do systematic and sustainable development in order to maintain the sanctity of the
pleasant and serene islands like Lakshdweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands and islands like
Rameshwaram which has religious importance too. Both government and people of India should
come together for this campaign (Dekho, Bharat Dekho). First, government should do efforts for
good connectivity, infrastructures, communication facility, transportation, shops, hotels, food,
cafes, Wi-Fi etc. in these islands like Maldives and Bali have. Everything has to be good then
only we can attract our Indian visitors and foreign visitors too. Second being responsible citizens
of India we should first visit our places and maintain and sustain the holiness of these beautiful
and virgin islands. These combined efforts will lead to the growth of our country in five
dimensions- development of forsaken islands, generate the employment, attract the tourists,
boost up the tourism economic engine and manifest the unique identity of India
ubiquitously. So it’s time to wake up and explore as Reymond Page said,
“Waking up in India is like waking up to life itself.”
