I roamed around last weekend in Boston downtown, and incidentally had an amazing experience that made me to write this post.

Every city has huge skyscrapers, but the way this city has made use of it stands out.There is a building named Prudential Center, which is of 52 floors. The top of this floor has been converted to an observatory. It is so high that one can have a complete look around the whole city. It looks so amazing at the top, that only if you experience it, you can understand its significance. Nighttime is also fascinating, with the whole city lit up giving it a beautiful look. But it doesn’t come free; there is a nominal charge for this facility, which one feels expensive while at the ticket counter. One can feel that he can get such a look from the plane too.

But hold on, there is much more coming, and that is the topic I want to iterate in this post.
What the authorities have done here is to convert this observatory into a complete tourist attraction, informative as well as interesting. When you walk into the entrance, you’ll be given a small phone like device which has recorded tapes. Every set of three windows has a small no. written on top of it, which if you type in in your device, you’ll hear recorded voices. They’ll take you to a complete tour of the view that you are then experiencing. They’ll pinpoint to specific places, and tell you the history behind it. It is more interactive and lets you know about the places in historical details. It is much better than having a tour guide, saying sthg loud which you would rarely pay attention to. It is like a virtual tour guide for an individual. Even the kids get this device, and they have diff. recordings for them, which they can access dialing diff. nos.

The information that is given is deeply recursive and unending e.g. if they show u a house of a famous poet, then u can go into detail, and know more about this person, if you want by dialing diff. nos. as instructed.The complete history of Boston is captured on the interior walls, the war that took place there, the demography of the place, how the place has evolved, its culture ; all these things have been brought out in a very interesting manner, which makes it being read by ppl attentively.

Who would like to read a piece of history of an alien land, if it is just hanging on the wall.But if it involves some fun like pressing buttons to illuminate some lights on the plasma board, there would b many ppl who would try such a thing.All the famous men/women, who belonged to Boston have a presence in that place.

This place is also famous for watching sunset, and it does get romantic at the dusk.

I think after this tour of the place I know more abt Boston than any other Indian city, at least on paper. But this was the point I was coming to.

Look how a naïve idea has been turned into a good marketing proposition. This place could have been very easily become “just-a-view-from-a-skyscraper” kinda thing.But due to such innovation, it has turned out to be a big tourist attraction.

Who would not like to finish off a tour to a city in one hour, n this place lets u do exactly that.The way the history is rendered not only makes it interesting, but also makes ppl remember it for long.

I was just wondering, if they can, why can’t we, or why didn’t we.
India doesn’t have a dearth of skyscrapers, but we couldn’t we come up with such an idea.
Is it becoz of lack of funds or simply lack of imagination. We do a lot of talking when it comes to tourism, but we don’t c things executing in reality. Who or what is to be blamed?
I don’t think there is lack of such ideas in India, but its simply the will to back them up which is lacking. Govt. can earn a lot from tourism, it can be a big contributor in our GDP, if harnessed in right directions. N the amazing part of such ideas like Skywalk is, tht it doesn’t require only tourists to sustain their day-to-day expenses, the local populace will make it earn good money. I could see a no. of local ppl who were hvg this exp. along with us foreigners. So, making money on one such idea would not b tough.

This is an idea worth investing, and we need many more ideas like this if we think of making India a preferred destination for tourists around the world.

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It was another weekend, and I was looking for another escape.I had plans to visit Mysore,
wht tht I have fallen in love with the place.But my frenz had other plans on their mind.So,
i was asked 2 reach Mysore by Friday night. As i had committed for a party on tht day, i cudnt go tht early.After partying hard on Friday, I had 2 get up early on Saturday 2 reach
Mysore.On reaching i came 2 know, v r heading 2 swhere, there were a few options.N it was decided tht on reaching the intersection, v’ll take the decision.So, finally me n 4 others , Aps, Suppi, Rohit n Kapil headed 2 Coorg.

The road was bumpy,n the heat was scorching.V kept going with some intermittent breaks in btw.V finally reached Coorg around afternoon. It is around 120 kms. from Mysore, and the place is named Madikeri, Coorg is the district name. Before tht place, on a diversion, you can also visit Abbey Falls. So, v headed towards it. It was steep ride up the hills. V
finally reached the falls, which already had a warning at the entrance saying “Every year
lot of unwary visitors lose their lives on the slippery rocks”. I think very few ppl read tht, forget abt heeding the advice.The place has become rotten, n ppl have made it filthy with plastic wastes. Though the falls were good, but the filth made me feel bad.V spent some time there, but ppl got enthused in btw. So, v headed up the hills 2 c the source of the falls. It was again a difficult n dangerous rock climbing exercise( i must now get used 2 it, and will definitely carry proper gear next time i venture on such trips, coz such rock climbing hv become almost regular feature of my trips).V din go much further, and came back when v were exhausted on the way up.
V then headed 2 a sunset point named “Raja Ki Seat”.It had its charm, and the crowd swelled at the time of the sunset. The setting of the sun in the far off mountains is a good scene, and one of the best attraction of Coorg.Otherwise it doesn’t had much 2 offer, or may b v din go with proper homework 2 lookout for other places.V then headed for some food n drinks, n found a dilapidated env. being referred 2 as the “best” hotel in Coorg.
After spending some time, v headed back as nobody was in the mood 2 stay back for another day.Car drives back home were good, with lots of music, drivers driving on a high, n some cacophonic sounds of some wannabe singers. The occassional stoppages had their usual charm, and one such memorable one was right in the jungles, with pitch darkness, n no sign of ne living thing nearby, even their were very few vehicles crossing.
Our wannabe singer used his throat 2 perfection, n then v cut a caper in the middle of the night n the middle of the jingle. God forbid, if v met some animal. But, neway tht was fun.
So, tht was my weekend trip 2 Coorg, full of fun, adventure n reaching out 2 new locales.

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