My Recent Travels ToThe United Kingdom

History On A Different Footing...

Is History Nevertheless...!!

  

I was recently visiting the United Kingdom and made it a point not to visit the typically touristy places.

A Feeling reciprocated by my friends who were visiting with me.

 It was a thrill to  explore the not so explored and learn about the history which was not already known.Of course there were a few sights which were flocked by tourists.

The Scottish Highlands took my breath away.  The Lake District was was so serene and beautiful. The days there, were spent in conversation with the people in those places. I could see the pride they felt of being a part of their country. 

The trips taken with them were amusing and the anecdotes described with typical British Humour.  So from the tales, some gory, some mysterious and some out right funny, we travelled from the Scottish Highlands to the Lake District.The Lake District steeped in Poetry and Literature, brought back so many memories of the poets, we had studied and the classics we had read.

 It was “manna”to see their dwellings and the countryside which induced them to write.  Needless to say I came back with my mind full to bursting!! Something though kept bothering me throughout the trip. 

It was only on my way back to my home town that the thought struck me.It came as a shock and brought me down from my dreamy state.

Yes, the United Kingdom is steeped in History. Is India Not?

Our past is centuries and centuries old. Our relics stand in rubble today but still stand tall. For don't they beckon us every time we look at them?
 

 What the British have done is turned these places into Tourist Hubs. Spinning stories and yarns to make the ordinary seem extraordinary.

I would like to explain this with a few examples.

 In Belfast shipyard, a huge modern structure has been built. This is now known as the Titanic Museum.

Apparently the skeleton of the Titanic and her sister ship were built here. What they have done is created an audio visual extravaganza, where in a rail cart they take you through the whole process of its ship building.

Needless to say the Museum is packed to capacity!!

 The other example is of a bridge in the highlands. If you look at the bridge ( shown in the picture above ), it looks like an ordinary stone bridge over a running stream.The difference being, the story that was narrated by the guide. He made it so intriguing that taking a picture was paramount.

The point I am trying to make is how an idea if it takes root and with the help of funding and the
Government participation can become a huge tourist enterprise. I was told that the cost of the project, in the building of the Titanic Museum has already been recovered and its only been 2 years since it was opened to the public.

In Maharashtra our beautiful state, every village and town boasts of a glorious past. Breath taking sights of the Western Ghats, Forts, Monuments and Temples, ruins of past civilizations are all there to be explored. When we visit these relics from the past, we are horrified by the graffiti on its walls, there is no one to explain to us our past, except fragments written in our History books.

Why is there a general apathy towards our rich heritage?

There are some among us who cringe every time an archaic structure crumbles down or is seen in a
dilapidated state for want of its conservation.  Can we not restore its glory and show the world that we too are proud of our heritage?

States of Gujrat, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan,Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh have realised this, and are way ahead of us in the business of Tourism.

We too have it all in Maharashtra.

Let us once more bring glory and pride to our state.

Let us work together and bring about this change.