Tuesday, 27 September 2011
World Tourism Day Timeline.
1946
The First International Congress of National Tourism Bodies, meeting in London, decides to create a new international non-governmental organization to replace the International Union of Official Tourist Propaganda Organizations (IUOTPO), established in 1934.
1947
The First Constitutive Assembly of the International Union of Official Travel Organisations (IUOTO) is held in The Hague. The temporary IUOTO headquarters are established in London.
1948
Creation of the European Travel Commission (ETC), the first Regional Commission within IUOTO. It is followed by those for Africa (1949), Middle East (1951), Central Asia (1956) and the Americas (1957).
IUOTO is granted United Nations consultative status.
1951
IUOTO transfers its headquarters to Geneva, Switzerland, where it remains until 1975.
1954
IUOTO takes part in the United Nations Conference on Customs Formalities for the Temporary Importation of Private Road Motor Vehicles and for Tourism held in New York, which adopts two key multilateral instruments to facilitate travel and tourism promotion activities.
1957
Robert Lonati (France) becomes the first IUOTO Secretary-General; his mandate will be extended until 1974.
1963
Following an IUOTO initiative, the United Nations Conference on Tourism and International Travel meets in Rome. This conference adopts a series of recommendations on the definition of the terms ‘visitor’ and ‘tourist’ regarding international statistics; the simplification of international travel formalities, and a general resolution on tourism development, including technical co-operation, freedom of movement and absence of discrimination.
1965
IUOTO takes an active part in the work of the International Conference on Facilitation of Travel and Maritime Traffic, organized by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London. The Conference adopts the Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic.
1966
The 79th meeting of the Executive Council of IUOTO in Madrid, approves a proposition to modify the legal statutes of the Union and creates a working group to study the effects and consequences of this change.
1967
The United Nations, following an IUOTO initiative, declares 1967 International Tourism Year (ITY), with the slogan Tourism, Passport to Peace.
1969
The Intergovernmental Conference in Sofia (Bulgaria) and the United Nations General Assembly press for the creation of an intergovernmental organization on independent tourism.
1970
On 27 September, the IUOTO Special General Assembly meeting in Mexico City adopts the Statutes of the World Tourism Organization (WTO). From 1980 onwards, this day will be celebrated as “World Tourism Day”.
1975
First WTO General Assembly meets in May in Madrid at the invitation of the Spanish Government. Robert Lonati is voted in as the first WTO Secretary-General and the Assembly decides to establish its headquarters in Madrid.
1976
The WTO General Secretariat is set up in Madrid on 1 January.
The agreement is signed for WTO to become an executing agency of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), carrying out technical co-operation with Governments.
1980
The World Tourism Conference held in Manila (Philippines) adopts the Manila Declaration on World Tourism.
1982
The World Tourism Conference in Acapulco (Mexico) adopts the Acapulco Document.
1985
The VI WTO General Assembly, held in Sofia (Bulgaria), adopts the Tourism Bill of Rights and Tourist Code.
Willibald Pahr (Austria) is voted new WTO Secretary-General.
1989
Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Tourism, jointly organized with the Inter-Parliamentary Union, adopts The Hague Declaration on Tourism.
VIII WTO General Assembly, Paris (France).
Antonio Enríquez Savignac (Mexico) is voted new WTO Secreteary-General.
1991
The International Conference on Travel and Tourism Statistics in Ottawa (Canada) adopts a resolution defining the statistical needs of the tourism industry.
IX WTO General Assembly in Buenos Aires (Argentina) approves the recommendations of the Ottawa Conference and adopts “Recommended Measures for Security in Tourism” and “Creating Tourism Opportunities for Handicapped People in the Nineties”.
1992
WTO participates in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), where "Agenda 21" is created.
1993
X WTO General Assembly held in Bali (Indonesia), Antonio Enríquez Savignac (Mexico) is re-elected as Secretary-General. The United Nations Statistics Commission approves the Ottawa recommendations and adopts the Standard International Classification of Tourism Activities (SICTA).
1994
Joint WTO and UNESCO meeting on the Silk Road, held in Samarkand (Uzbekistan), adopts the Samarkand Declaration on Silk Road Tourism.
1995
Accra Declaration on the WTO-UNESCO cultural programme “The Slave Route” in Accra (Ghana).
I WTO Forum on Parliaments and Local Authorities: Tourism Policy-Makers, held in Cadiz (Spain), which underscores the importance of co-operation between local, regional and national authorities.
WTO, WTCC and the Earth Council produce Agenda 21 for the Travel and Tourism Industry, as a follow-up to the Rio Conference.
XI WTO General Assembly in Cairo (Egypt) adopts the WTO Declaration on the Prevention of Organized Sex Tourism.
1996
II WTO Forum on Parliaments and Local Authorities: Tourism Policy-Makers, held in Bali (Indonesia), adopts the Bali Declaration on Tourism,
1997
XII WTO General Assembly in Istanbul (Turkey) approves a White Paper to define WTO strategy in confronting the challenges of the 21st century. Francesco Frangialli (France) is voted new WTO Secretary-General.
1998
The WTO.THEMIS Foundation is created in Andorra, to promote quality and efficiency in tourism education and training.
1999
The World Conference on the Measurement of the Economic Impact of Tourism, held in Nice (France), approves the Tourism Satellite Account.
XIII WTO General Assembly in Santiago (Chile) adopts the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.
2000
The United Nations Statistics Commission approves the international standards included in the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA).
Third WTO Forum on Parliaments and Local Authorities: Tourism Policy-Makers, in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
2001
First World Conference on Sport and Tourism, jointly organized by WTO and the International Olympic Committee, Barcelona (Spain).
Conference on Tourism Satellite Accounts in Vancouver (Canada) aimed at promoting the use of Tourism Satellite Accounts.
XIV WTO General Assembly held jointly in Seoul (Republic of Korea) and Osaka (Japan), adopts the Seoul Declaration on Peace and Tourism and the Osaka Declaration for the Millennium. Francesco Frangialli (France) is re-elected Secretary-General.
The Assembly requests looking at the possibility of transforming WTO into a United Nations specialized agency.
2002
2002 is declared International Year of Ecotourism.
Quebec (Canada) holds the World Ecotourism Summit, which adopts the Quebec Declaration on Ecotourism.
WTO takes part in the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, South Africa), during which the programme “Sustainable Tourism – Eliminating Poverty” (ST-EP) is presented. The final declaration of the Summit includes a direct reference to sustainable development of tourism.
IV WTO Forum on Parliaments and Local Authorities: Tourism Policy-Makers, held in Panama City.
2003
WTO Strategy for Crisis Management is adopted at ITB Berlin (Germany).
First International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism, Djerba (Tunisia).
XV WTO General Assembly, Beijing (China), approves the composition of the World Committee on Tourism Ethics and unanimously supports the programme Sustainable Tourism – Eliminating Poverty (ST-EP).
The Assembly approves the transformation of WTO into a United Nations specialized body by resolution 453(XV). The transformation is ratified at the United Nations General Assembly by resolution A/RES/58/232.
2004
First World Conference on Tourism Communications (TOURCOM), organized by WTO in Madrid, during FITUR.
The World Committee on Tourism Ethics, the implementation body for the Global Code of Ethics (adopted in 1999), holds its first meeting in Rome (Italy).
2005
Following the Asian tsunami catastrophe in December 2004, UNWTO Secretary-General summoned an emergency meeting of the UNWTO Executive Council which adopts the Phuket Action Plan.
UNWTO conference on the “Tourism Satellite Account (TSA): Understanding Tourism and Designing Strategies” in Iguazu, jointly organized with the governments of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
Applying the agreement signed between UNWTO and the Government of Korea in 2004, the official head office of UNWTO’s ST-EP Foundation is opened in Seoul.
XVI UNWTO General Assembly held in Dakar (Senegal), confirms the leading role UNWTO can play in eliminating poverty through sustainable tourism development. Francesco Frangialli (France) is re-elected for a third mandate as Secretary-General.
The General Assembly also approves the adoption of the initials UNWTO in English and ЮНВТО in Russian.
2006
XXX anniversary of UNWTO in Madrid.
Chaired by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the UN’s Chief Executives Board meets for the first time at UNWTO headquarters.
First International Conference on Tourism and Handicrafts, Teheran (Islamic Republic of Iran).
2007
Fifth International Forum for Parliamentarians and Local Authorities, Hamamet (Tunisia.)
Second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism, Davos (Switzerland), adopted the Davos Declaration, endorsed by the London Ministerial Summit on Tourism and Climate Change.
First International Conference on Tourism, Religions and Dialogue of Cultures, Cordoba (Spain)
The XVII Session of the UNWTO General Assembly held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, adopts the Davos Declaration and encourages UNWTO to engage itself in the response to one of the greatest challenges of our times
2008
UNWTO and other UN agencies present the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria at the World Conservation Congress, Barcelona (Spain)
The 84th Session of the UNWTO Executive Council establishes the Tourism Resilience Committee (TRC) to respond to the economic downturn, Madrid (Spain)
UNWTO launches the awareness campaign Protect Children from Exploitation in Travel and Tourism
Permanent Secretariat of World Committee on Tourism Ethics inaugurated, Rome (Italy)
2009
In response to the global economic crisis, the UNWTO Roadmap for Recovery is developed, demonstrating how tourism can contribute to economic recovery and the long term transformation to the Green Economy
XVIII Session of the UNWTO General Assembly, Astana (Kazakhstan), endorses the Roadmap for Recovery as a way to mainstream tourism into economic stimulus packages and appoints Taleb Rifai (Jordan) as UNWTO Secretary-General for the period 2010-2013
UNWTO and the World Travel and Tourism Council host a side event at the COP-15 negotiations demonstrating the commitment of the tourism industry to the climate imperative, Copenhagen (Denmark)
2010
First T.20 Ministers’ Meeting underscores tourism’s contribution to global economic recovery and the long-term ‘green’ transformation
The First International Congress of National Tourism Bodies, meeting in London, decides to create a new international non-governmental organization to replace the International Union of Official Tourist Propaganda Organizations (IUOTPO), established in 1934.
1947
The First Constitutive Assembly of the International Union of Official Travel Organisations (IUOTO) is held in The Hague. The temporary IUOTO headquarters are established in London.
1948
Creation of the European Travel Commission (ETC), the first Regional Commission within IUOTO. It is followed by those for Africa (1949), Middle East (1951), Central Asia (1956) and the Americas (1957).
IUOTO is granted United Nations consultative status.
1951
IUOTO transfers its headquarters to Geneva, Switzerland, where it remains until 1975.
1954
IUOTO takes part in the United Nations Conference on Customs Formalities for the Temporary Importation of Private Road Motor Vehicles and for Tourism held in New York, which adopts two key multilateral instruments to facilitate travel and tourism promotion activities.
1957
Robert Lonati (France) becomes the first IUOTO Secretary-General; his mandate will be extended until 1974.
1963
Following an IUOTO initiative, the United Nations Conference on Tourism and International Travel meets in Rome. This conference adopts a series of recommendations on the definition of the terms ‘visitor’ and ‘tourist’ regarding international statistics; the simplification of international travel formalities, and a general resolution on tourism development, including technical co-operation, freedom of movement and absence of discrimination.
1965
IUOTO takes an active part in the work of the International Conference on Facilitation of Travel and Maritime Traffic, organized by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London. The Conference adopts the Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic.
1966
The 79th meeting of the Executive Council of IUOTO in Madrid, approves a proposition to modify the legal statutes of the Union and creates a working group to study the effects and consequences of this change.
1967
The United Nations, following an IUOTO initiative, declares 1967 International Tourism Year (ITY), with the slogan Tourism, Passport to Peace.
1969
The Intergovernmental Conference in Sofia (Bulgaria) and the United Nations General Assembly press for the creation of an intergovernmental organization on independent tourism.
1970
On 27 September, the IUOTO Special General Assembly meeting in Mexico City adopts the Statutes of the World Tourism Organization (WTO). From 1980 onwards, this day will be celebrated as “World Tourism Day”.
1975
First WTO General Assembly meets in May in Madrid at the invitation of the Spanish Government. Robert Lonati is voted in as the first WTO Secretary-General and the Assembly decides to establish its headquarters in Madrid.
1976
The WTO General Secretariat is set up in Madrid on 1 January.
The agreement is signed for WTO to become an executing agency of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), carrying out technical co-operation with Governments.
1980
The World Tourism Conference held in Manila (Philippines) adopts the Manila Declaration on World Tourism.
1982
The World Tourism Conference in Acapulco (Mexico) adopts the Acapulco Document.
1985
The VI WTO General Assembly, held in Sofia (Bulgaria), adopts the Tourism Bill of Rights and Tourist Code.
Willibald Pahr (Austria) is voted new WTO Secretary-General.
1989
Inter-Parliamentary Conference on Tourism, jointly organized with the Inter-Parliamentary Union, adopts The Hague Declaration on Tourism.
VIII WTO General Assembly, Paris (France).
Antonio Enríquez Savignac (Mexico) is voted new WTO Secreteary-General.
1991
The International Conference on Travel and Tourism Statistics in Ottawa (Canada) adopts a resolution defining the statistical needs of the tourism industry.
IX WTO General Assembly in Buenos Aires (Argentina) approves the recommendations of the Ottawa Conference and adopts “Recommended Measures for Security in Tourism” and “Creating Tourism Opportunities for Handicapped People in the Nineties”.
1992
WTO participates in the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), where "Agenda 21" is created.
1993
X WTO General Assembly held in Bali (Indonesia), Antonio Enríquez Savignac (Mexico) is re-elected as Secretary-General. The United Nations Statistics Commission approves the Ottawa recommendations and adopts the Standard International Classification of Tourism Activities (SICTA).
1994
Joint WTO and UNESCO meeting on the Silk Road, held in Samarkand (Uzbekistan), adopts the Samarkand Declaration on Silk Road Tourism.
1995
Accra Declaration on the WTO-UNESCO cultural programme “The Slave Route” in Accra (Ghana).
I WTO Forum on Parliaments and Local Authorities: Tourism Policy-Makers, held in Cadiz (Spain), which underscores the importance of co-operation between local, regional and national authorities.
WTO, WTCC and the Earth Council produce Agenda 21 for the Travel and Tourism Industry, as a follow-up to the Rio Conference.
XI WTO General Assembly in Cairo (Egypt) adopts the WTO Declaration on the Prevention of Organized Sex Tourism.
1996
II WTO Forum on Parliaments and Local Authorities: Tourism Policy-Makers, held in Bali (Indonesia), adopts the Bali Declaration on Tourism,
1997
XII WTO General Assembly in Istanbul (Turkey) approves a White Paper to define WTO strategy in confronting the challenges of the 21st century. Francesco Frangialli (France) is voted new WTO Secretary-General.
1998
The WTO.THEMIS Foundation is created in Andorra, to promote quality and efficiency in tourism education and training.
1999
The World Conference on the Measurement of the Economic Impact of Tourism, held in Nice (France), approves the Tourism Satellite Account.
XIII WTO General Assembly in Santiago (Chile) adopts the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.
2000
The United Nations Statistics Commission approves the international standards included in the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA).
Third WTO Forum on Parliaments and Local Authorities: Tourism Policy-Makers, in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
2001
First World Conference on Sport and Tourism, jointly organized by WTO and the International Olympic Committee, Barcelona (Spain).
Conference on Tourism Satellite Accounts in Vancouver (Canada) aimed at promoting the use of Tourism Satellite Accounts.
XIV WTO General Assembly held jointly in Seoul (Republic of Korea) and Osaka (Japan), adopts the Seoul Declaration on Peace and Tourism and the Osaka Declaration for the Millennium. Francesco Frangialli (France) is re-elected Secretary-General.
The Assembly requests looking at the possibility of transforming WTO into a United Nations specialized agency.
2002
2002 is declared International Year of Ecotourism.
Quebec (Canada) holds the World Ecotourism Summit, which adopts the Quebec Declaration on Ecotourism.
WTO takes part in the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, South Africa), during which the programme “Sustainable Tourism – Eliminating Poverty” (ST-EP) is presented. The final declaration of the Summit includes a direct reference to sustainable development of tourism.
IV WTO Forum on Parliaments and Local Authorities: Tourism Policy-Makers, held in Panama City.
2003
WTO Strategy for Crisis Management is adopted at ITB Berlin (Germany).
First International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism, Djerba (Tunisia).
XV WTO General Assembly, Beijing (China), approves the composition of the World Committee on Tourism Ethics and unanimously supports the programme Sustainable Tourism – Eliminating Poverty (ST-EP).
The Assembly approves the transformation of WTO into a United Nations specialized body by resolution 453(XV). The transformation is ratified at the United Nations General Assembly by resolution A/RES/58/232.
2004
First World Conference on Tourism Communications (TOURCOM), organized by WTO in Madrid, during FITUR.
The World Committee on Tourism Ethics, the implementation body for the Global Code of Ethics (adopted in 1999), holds its first meeting in Rome (Italy).
2005
Following the Asian tsunami catastrophe in December 2004, UNWTO Secretary-General summoned an emergency meeting of the UNWTO Executive Council which adopts the Phuket Action Plan.
UNWTO conference on the “Tourism Satellite Account (TSA): Understanding Tourism and Designing Strategies” in Iguazu, jointly organized with the governments of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.
Applying the agreement signed between UNWTO and the Government of Korea in 2004, the official head office of UNWTO’s ST-EP Foundation is opened in Seoul.
XVI UNWTO General Assembly held in Dakar (Senegal), confirms the leading role UNWTO can play in eliminating poverty through sustainable tourism development. Francesco Frangialli (France) is re-elected for a third mandate as Secretary-General.
The General Assembly also approves the adoption of the initials UNWTO in English and ЮНВТО in Russian.
2006
XXX anniversary of UNWTO in Madrid.
Chaired by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the UN’s Chief Executives Board meets for the first time at UNWTO headquarters.
First International Conference on Tourism and Handicrafts, Teheran (Islamic Republic of Iran).
2007
Fifth International Forum for Parliamentarians and Local Authorities, Hamamet (Tunisia.)
Second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism, Davos (Switzerland), adopted the Davos Declaration, endorsed by the London Ministerial Summit on Tourism and Climate Change.
First International Conference on Tourism, Religions and Dialogue of Cultures, Cordoba (Spain)
The XVII Session of the UNWTO General Assembly held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, adopts the Davos Declaration and encourages UNWTO to engage itself in the response to one of the greatest challenges of our times
2008
UNWTO and other UN agencies present the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria at the World Conservation Congress, Barcelona (Spain)
The 84th Session of the UNWTO Executive Council establishes the Tourism Resilience Committee (TRC) to respond to the economic downturn, Madrid (Spain)
UNWTO launches the awareness campaign Protect Children from Exploitation in Travel and Tourism
Permanent Secretariat of World Committee on Tourism Ethics inaugurated, Rome (Italy)
2009
In response to the global economic crisis, the UNWTO Roadmap for Recovery is developed, demonstrating how tourism can contribute to economic recovery and the long term transformation to the Green Economy
XVIII Session of the UNWTO General Assembly, Astana (Kazakhstan), endorses the Roadmap for Recovery as a way to mainstream tourism into economic stimulus packages and appoints Taleb Rifai (Jordan) as UNWTO Secretary-General for the period 2010-2013
UNWTO and the World Travel and Tourism Council host a side event at the COP-15 negotiations demonstrating the commitment of the tourism industry to the climate imperative, Copenhagen (Denmark)
2010
First T.20 Ministers’ Meeting underscores tourism’s contribution to global economic recovery and the long-term ‘green’ transformation
Friday, 5 August 2011
Interesting Facts About India
Chess was first invented in India.
Hindi and English are the official languages of India.
India has never invaded another country.
In India you drive on the left hand side of the road.
India has more Post Offices than any other country.
India is the largest democratic country in the world.
The value of pi was first calculated by an Indian mathematician- Budhayana.
India has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. However, there are still many people living in poverty. To help, please donate to Give India.
Cricket is the most popular sport in India. The Indian cricket team won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20.
Christians make up just 2.3% of the population in India. 80.5% of Indians are Hindu.
Indian Railways is the largest employer in the world. Over a million people work for them!
The Indian Film Industry is the largest in the world- even bigger the Hollywood! Bollywood makes Hindi films.
Most Indians have their marriages arranged by parents and family members, with the consent of the bride and groom. India has a very low divorce rate.
About 50% of Indian women marry before reaching 18 years of age.
India has the 3rd largest military force in the world.
Hindi and English are the official languages of India.
India has never invaded another country.
In India you drive on the left hand side of the road.
India has more Post Offices than any other country.
India is the largest democratic country in the world.
The value of pi was first calculated by an Indian mathematician- Budhayana.
India has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. However, there are still many people living in poverty. To help, please donate to Give India.
Cricket is the most popular sport in India. The Indian cricket team won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20.
Christians make up just 2.3% of the population in India. 80.5% of Indians are Hindu.
Indian Railways is the largest employer in the world. Over a million people work for them!
The Indian Film Industry is the largest in the world- even bigger the Hollywood! Bollywood makes Hindi films.
Most Indians have their marriages arranged by parents and family members, with the consent of the bride and groom. India has a very low divorce rate.
About 50% of Indian women marry before reaching 18 years of age.
India has the 3rd largest military force in the world.
61 Interesting Facts About INDIA
India is about 1/3 the size of the United States, yet it is the second most populous country in the world, with a population of 1,166,079,217. India is the seventh largest country in the world, at 1.27 million square miles.g
India is the largest democracy in the world.i
The Kumbh Mela (or Grand Pitcher Festival) is a huge Hindu religious festival that takes place in India every 12 years. In 2001, 60 million people attended, breaking the record for the world’s biggest gathering. The mass of people was photographed from space by a satellite.c
Many Indians find toilet paper repellent and consider it cleaner to splash water with the left hand in the appropriate direction. Consequently, the left hand is considered unclean and is never used for eating.f
To avoid polluting the elements (fire, earth, water, air), followers of Zoroastrianism in India don’t bury their dead, but instead leave bodies in buildings called “Towers of Silence” for the vultures to pick clean. After the bones dry, they are swept into a central well.f
It is illegal for foreigners to import or export Indian currency (rupees)
It is illegal to take Indian currency (rupees) out of India.f
India leads the world with the most murders (32,719), with Russia taking second at 28,904 murders per year.j
India has one of the world’s highest rates of abortion.e
More than a million Indians are millionaires, yet most Indians live on less than two dollars a day. An estimated 35% of India’s population lives below the poverty line.l
Cows can be found freely wandering the streets of India’s cities. They are considered sacred and will often wear a tilak, a Hindu symbol of good fortune. Cows are considered one of humankind’s seven mothers because she offers milk as does one’s natural mother.k
Dancing is one of India’s most highly developed arts and was an integral part of worship in the inner shrines of every temple. It is notable for its expressive hand movements.f
Rabies is endemic in India. Additionally, “Delhi Belly” or diarrhea is commonplace due to contaminated drinking water.f
Many Indian wives will never say her husband’s name aloud, as it is a sign of disrespect. When addressing him, the wife will use several indirect references, such as “ji” or “look here” or “hello,” or even refer to him as the father of her child.f
A widow is considered bad luck—otherwise, her husband wouldn’t have died. Elderly women in the village might call a widow “the one who ate her husband.” In some orthodox families, widows are not allowed near newlyweds or welcomed at social gatherings.b
India is the birthplace of chess.l The original word for “chess” is the Sanskrit chaturanga, meaning “four members of an army”—which were mostly likely elephants, horses, chariots, and foot soldiers.d
The Indian flag has three horizontal bands of color: saffron for courage and sacrifice, white for truth and peace, and green for faith, fertility, and chivalry. An emblem of a wheel spinning used to be in the center of the white band, but when India gained independence, a Buddhist dharma chakra, or wheel of life, replaced the spinning wheel.m
Khajuraho’s exotic art may suggest that sex was a step for attaining ultimate liberation or moksha
The temples of Khajuraho are famous for their erotic sculptures and are one of the most popular tourist attractions in India. Scholars still debate the purpose of such explicit portrayals of sexual intercourse, which sometimes involves animals.a
The earliest cotton in the world was spun and woven in India. Roman emperors would wear delicate cotton from India that they would call “woven winds.” Mogul emperors called the fabrics “morning dew” and “cloth of running water.”i
In ancient and medieval India, suttees, in which a recently widowed woman would immolate herself on her husband’s funeral pyre, were common.b
The Himalayas—from the Sanskrit hima, meaning “snow,” and alaya, meaning “abode”—are found in the north of India. They extend 1,500 miles and are slowly growing taller, by almost an inch (2.5 cm) a year. Several ancient Indian monasteries are found nestled in the grandeur of these mountains.m
India is the world’s largest producer of dried beans, such as kidney beans and chickpeas. It also leads the world in banana exports; Brazil is second.l
In India, the fold and color of clothing are viewed as important markers of social classification. Additionally, women will be viewed as either a prostitute or a holy person depending on the manner in which she parts her hair.k
With 150,000 post offices, India has the largest postal network in the world. However, it is not unusual for a letter to take two weeks to travel just 30 miles.f
In India, grasping one’s ears signifies repentance or sincerity.f
The Bengal tiger is India’s national animal. It was once ubiquitous throughout the country, but now there are fewer than 4,000 wild tigers left.m
Indians hold prominent places both internationally and in the United States. For example, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems (Vinod Khosla), the creator of the Pentium chip (Vinod Dahm), the founder/creator of Hotmail (Sabeer Bhatia), and the GM of Hewlett-Packard (Rajiv Gupta) are all Indian.h
Alexander the Great of Macedon (356-323 B.C.) was one of the first important figures to bring India into contact with the West. After his death, a link between Europe and the East would not be restored until Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) landed in Calicut, India, in 1498.l
The British Raj, or British rule, lasted from 1858 to 1947 (although they had a strong presence in India since the 1700s). British influence is still seen in Indian architecture, education system, transportation, and politics. Many of India’s worst famines are associated with British rule in India.i
Every major world religion is represented in India. Additionally, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism all originated in India.f
About 80% of Indians are Hindu. Muslims are the largest minority in India and form approximately 13% of the country’s population. In fact, India has the third largest population of Muslims in the world, after Indonesia and Pakistan.i
India has the world’s largest movie industry, based in the city of Mumbai (known as the “City of Dreams”). The B in “Bollywood” comes from Bombay, the former name for Mumbai. Almost all Bollywood movies are musicals.l
Mumbai (Bombay) is India’s largest city, with a population of 15 million. In 1661, British engineers built a causeway uniting all seven original islands of Bombay into a single landmass.l
Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) is known around the world as Mahatma, which is an honorific title meaning “Great Soul” in the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit. He devoted his life to free India from British rule peacefully and based his campaign on civil disobedience. His birthday, October 2, is a national holiday. He was assassinated in 1948.m
The Lotus temple is one of the most visited temples in the world, with over 50 million visitors per year
The lotus is sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists. The Bahá'í house of worship in Delhi, known as the “Lotus Temple,” is shaped like a lotus flower with 27 gigantic “petals” that are covered in marble.i
The banyan, or Indian fig tree, is considered a symbol of immortality and is mentioned in many Indian myths and legends. This self-renewing plant is India’s national tree.m
Marigold flowers are used as decoration for Hindu marriages and are a symbol of good fortune and happiness.i
The official name of India is the Republic of India. The name “India” derives from the River Indus, which most likely is derived from the Sanskrit sindhu, meaning “river.” The official Sanskrit name of India is Bharat, after the legendary king in the epic Mahabharata.m
Introduced by the British, cricket is India’s most popular sport. Hockey is considered the national sport, and the Indian field hockey team proudly won Olympic gold in 1928.i
Indians made significant contributions to calculus, trigonometry, and algebra. The decimal system was invented in India in 100 B.C. The concept of zero as a number is also attributed to India.m
The national fruit of India is the mango. The national bird is the peacock, which was initially bred for food.m
Most historians agree that the first recorded account of plastic surgery is found in ancient Indian Sanskrit texts.b
Hindi and English are the official languages of India. The government also recognizes 17 other languages (Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Nepali, Manipuri, Konkani, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu). Apart from these languages, about 1,652 dialects are spoken in the country.l
India’s pastoral communities are largely dependent on dairy and have made India the largest milk-producing country in the world.l
India has the world’s third largest road network at 1.9 million miles. It also has the world’s second largest rail network, which is the world’s largest civilian employer with 16 million workers.f
Though the Ganges is one of the dirtiest rivers in the world, bathing in the river is thought to wash away one’s sins
Rivers have played a vital role in India’s popular culture and folklore—they have been worshipped as goddesses because they bring water to an otherwise dry land. Bathing in the Ganges in particular is thought to take away a person’s sins. It is not unusual to spread a loved one’s ashes in the Ganges.f
Raziya Sultana (1205-1240) was the first woman leader of India. She was considered a great leader, though she ruled for only three years before being murdered.b
Most Indians rinse their hands, legs, and face before eating a meal. It is considered polite to eat with the right hand, and women eat after everyone is finished. Wasting food is considered a sin.i
During the Vedic era in India, horse sacrifice sanctioned the sovereignty of the king.a
It is traditional to wear white, not black, to a funeral in India. Widows will often wear white in contrast to the colorful clothes of married or single women.k
All of India is under a single time zone.g
On India’s Independence Day, August 15, 1947, the country was split into India and Pakistan. The partition displaced 1.27 million people and resulted in the death of several hundred thousand to a million people.g
In recent years, Indian authors have made a mark on the world with such novels as Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses (1988), Vikram Seth’s Suitable Boy (1993), and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things (1997).i
India experiences six seasons: summer, autumn, winter, spring, summer monsoon, and winter monsoon.m
India is the world’s largest tea producer, and tea (chai) is its most popular beverage.f
According to legend, to prevent the builders from ever replicating the beauty of the Taj Mahal, their hands were cut off
The Taj Mahal (“crown palace”) was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (1592-1666) for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal (1593-1631). This architectural beauty has been called “marbled embroidery” for its intricate workmanship. It took 22,000 workmen 22 years to complete it.m
The first and greatest civilization in ancient India developed around the valley of the Indus River (now Pakistan) around 3000 B.C. Called the Indus Valley civilization, this early empire was larger than any other empire, including Egypt and Mesopotamia.l
After the great Indus Civilization collapsed in 2000 B.C., groups of Indo-Europeans called Aryans (“noble ones”) traveled to northwest India and reigned during what is called the Vedic age. The mingling of ideas from the Aryan and Indus Valley religions formed the basis of Hinduism, and the gods Shiva, Kali, and Brahma all have their roots in Aryan civilization. The Aryans also recorded the Vedas, the first Hindu scriptures, and introduced a caste system based on ethnicity and occupation.l
Alexander the Great invaded India partly because he wanted to solve the mystery of the “ocean,” which he had been told was a huge, continuous sea that flowed in a circle around the land. When he reached the Indian Ocean, he sacrificed some bulls to Poseidon for leading him to his goal.m
Greek sculpture strongly influenced many portrayals of Indian gods and goddess, particularly after the conquest of Alexander the Great around 330B.C. In fact, early Indian gods had Greek features and only later did distinct Indian styles emerge.m
Chandragupta Maurya (340-290 B.C.), a leader in India who established the Mauryan Empire (321-185 B.C.), was guarded by a band of women on horseback.a
When the first independent prime minister of India, pacifist Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), was featured in Vogue, his distinctive close fitting, single-breasted jacket briefly became an important fashion statement for the Mod movement in the West. Named the Nehru jacket, the prime minister’s coat was popularized by the Beatles and worn by such famous people as Johnny Carson (1925-2005) and Sammy Davis Jr. (1925-1990).
India is the largest democracy in the world.i
The Kumbh Mela (or Grand Pitcher Festival) is a huge Hindu religious festival that takes place in India every 12 years. In 2001, 60 million people attended, breaking the record for the world’s biggest gathering. The mass of people was photographed from space by a satellite.c
Many Indians find toilet paper repellent and consider it cleaner to splash water with the left hand in the appropriate direction. Consequently, the left hand is considered unclean and is never used for eating.f
To avoid polluting the elements (fire, earth, water, air), followers of Zoroastrianism in India don’t bury their dead, but instead leave bodies in buildings called “Towers of Silence” for the vultures to pick clean. After the bones dry, they are swept into a central well.f
It is illegal for foreigners to import or export Indian currency (rupees)
It is illegal to take Indian currency (rupees) out of India.f
India leads the world with the most murders (32,719), with Russia taking second at 28,904 murders per year.j
India has one of the world’s highest rates of abortion.e
More than a million Indians are millionaires, yet most Indians live on less than two dollars a day. An estimated 35% of India’s population lives below the poverty line.l
Cows can be found freely wandering the streets of India’s cities. They are considered sacred and will often wear a tilak, a Hindu symbol of good fortune. Cows are considered one of humankind’s seven mothers because she offers milk as does one’s natural mother.k
Dancing is one of India’s most highly developed arts and was an integral part of worship in the inner shrines of every temple. It is notable for its expressive hand movements.f
Rabies is endemic in India. Additionally, “Delhi Belly” or diarrhea is commonplace due to contaminated drinking water.f
Many Indian wives will never say her husband’s name aloud, as it is a sign of disrespect. When addressing him, the wife will use several indirect references, such as “ji” or “look here” or “hello,” or even refer to him as the father of her child.f
A widow is considered bad luck—otherwise, her husband wouldn’t have died. Elderly women in the village might call a widow “the one who ate her husband.” In some orthodox families, widows are not allowed near newlyweds or welcomed at social gatherings.b
India is the birthplace of chess.l The original word for “chess” is the Sanskrit chaturanga, meaning “four members of an army”—which were mostly likely elephants, horses, chariots, and foot soldiers.d
The Indian flag has three horizontal bands of color: saffron for courage and sacrifice, white for truth and peace, and green for faith, fertility, and chivalry. An emblem of a wheel spinning used to be in the center of the white band, but when India gained independence, a Buddhist dharma chakra, or wheel of life, replaced the spinning wheel.m
Khajuraho’s exotic art may suggest that sex was a step for attaining ultimate liberation or moksha
The temples of Khajuraho are famous for their erotic sculptures and are one of the most popular tourist attractions in India. Scholars still debate the purpose of such explicit portrayals of sexual intercourse, which sometimes involves animals.a
The earliest cotton in the world was spun and woven in India. Roman emperors would wear delicate cotton from India that they would call “woven winds.” Mogul emperors called the fabrics “morning dew” and “cloth of running water.”i
In ancient and medieval India, suttees, in which a recently widowed woman would immolate herself on her husband’s funeral pyre, were common.b
The Himalayas—from the Sanskrit hima, meaning “snow,” and alaya, meaning “abode”—are found in the north of India. They extend 1,500 miles and are slowly growing taller, by almost an inch (2.5 cm) a year. Several ancient Indian monasteries are found nestled in the grandeur of these mountains.m
India is the world’s largest producer of dried beans, such as kidney beans and chickpeas. It also leads the world in banana exports; Brazil is second.l
In India, the fold and color of clothing are viewed as important markers of social classification. Additionally, women will be viewed as either a prostitute or a holy person depending on the manner in which she parts her hair.k
With 150,000 post offices, India has the largest postal network in the world. However, it is not unusual for a letter to take two weeks to travel just 30 miles.f
In India, grasping one’s ears signifies repentance or sincerity.f
The Bengal tiger is India’s national animal. It was once ubiquitous throughout the country, but now there are fewer than 4,000 wild tigers left.m
Indians hold prominent places both internationally and in the United States. For example, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems (Vinod Khosla), the creator of the Pentium chip (Vinod Dahm), the founder/creator of Hotmail (Sabeer Bhatia), and the GM of Hewlett-Packard (Rajiv Gupta) are all Indian.h
Alexander the Great of Macedon (356-323 B.C.) was one of the first important figures to bring India into contact with the West. After his death, a link between Europe and the East would not be restored until Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama (1460-1524) landed in Calicut, India, in 1498.l
The British Raj, or British rule, lasted from 1858 to 1947 (although they had a strong presence in India since the 1700s). British influence is still seen in Indian architecture, education system, transportation, and politics. Many of India’s worst famines are associated with British rule in India.i
Every major world religion is represented in India. Additionally, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism all originated in India.f
About 80% of Indians are Hindu. Muslims are the largest minority in India and form approximately 13% of the country’s population. In fact, India has the third largest population of Muslims in the world, after Indonesia and Pakistan.i
India has the world’s largest movie industry, based in the city of Mumbai (known as the “City of Dreams”). The B in “Bollywood” comes from Bombay, the former name for Mumbai. Almost all Bollywood movies are musicals.l
Mumbai (Bombay) is India’s largest city, with a population of 15 million. In 1661, British engineers built a causeway uniting all seven original islands of Bombay into a single landmass.l
Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1948) is known around the world as Mahatma, which is an honorific title meaning “Great Soul” in the ancient Indian language of Sanskrit. He devoted his life to free India from British rule peacefully and based his campaign on civil disobedience. His birthday, October 2, is a national holiday. He was assassinated in 1948.m
The Lotus temple is one of the most visited temples in the world, with over 50 million visitors per year
The lotus is sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists. The Bahá'í house of worship in Delhi, known as the “Lotus Temple,” is shaped like a lotus flower with 27 gigantic “petals” that are covered in marble.i
The banyan, or Indian fig tree, is considered a symbol of immortality and is mentioned in many Indian myths and legends. This self-renewing plant is India’s national tree.m
Marigold flowers are used as decoration for Hindu marriages and are a symbol of good fortune and happiness.i
The official name of India is the Republic of India. The name “India” derives from the River Indus, which most likely is derived from the Sanskrit sindhu, meaning “river.” The official Sanskrit name of India is Bharat, after the legendary king in the epic Mahabharata.m
Introduced by the British, cricket is India’s most popular sport. Hockey is considered the national sport, and the Indian field hockey team proudly won Olympic gold in 1928.i
Indians made significant contributions to calculus, trigonometry, and algebra. The decimal system was invented in India in 100 B.C. The concept of zero as a number is also attributed to India.m
The national fruit of India is the mango. The national bird is the peacock, which was initially bred for food.m
Most historians agree that the first recorded account of plastic surgery is found in ancient Indian Sanskrit texts.b
Hindi and English are the official languages of India. The government also recognizes 17 other languages (Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Nepali, Manipuri, Konkani, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu). Apart from these languages, about 1,652 dialects are spoken in the country.l
India’s pastoral communities are largely dependent on dairy and have made India the largest milk-producing country in the world.l
India has the world’s third largest road network at 1.9 million miles. It also has the world’s second largest rail network, which is the world’s largest civilian employer with 16 million workers.f
Though the Ganges is one of the dirtiest rivers in the world, bathing in the river is thought to wash away one’s sins
Rivers have played a vital role in India’s popular culture and folklore—they have been worshipped as goddesses because they bring water to an otherwise dry land. Bathing in the Ganges in particular is thought to take away a person’s sins. It is not unusual to spread a loved one’s ashes in the Ganges.f
Raziya Sultana (1205-1240) was the first woman leader of India. She was considered a great leader, though she ruled for only three years before being murdered.b
Most Indians rinse their hands, legs, and face before eating a meal. It is considered polite to eat with the right hand, and women eat after everyone is finished. Wasting food is considered a sin.i
During the Vedic era in India, horse sacrifice sanctioned the sovereignty of the king.a
It is traditional to wear white, not black, to a funeral in India. Widows will often wear white in contrast to the colorful clothes of married or single women.k
All of India is under a single time zone.g
On India’s Independence Day, August 15, 1947, the country was split into India and Pakistan. The partition displaced 1.27 million people and resulted in the death of several hundred thousand to a million people.g
In recent years, Indian authors have made a mark on the world with such novels as Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses (1988), Vikram Seth’s Suitable Boy (1993), and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things (1997).i
India experiences six seasons: summer, autumn, winter, spring, summer monsoon, and winter monsoon.m
India is the world’s largest tea producer, and tea (chai) is its most popular beverage.f
According to legend, to prevent the builders from ever replicating the beauty of the Taj Mahal, their hands were cut off
The Taj Mahal (“crown palace”) was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan (1592-1666) for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal (1593-1631). This architectural beauty has been called “marbled embroidery” for its intricate workmanship. It took 22,000 workmen 22 years to complete it.m
The first and greatest civilization in ancient India developed around the valley of the Indus River (now Pakistan) around 3000 B.C. Called the Indus Valley civilization, this early empire was larger than any other empire, including Egypt and Mesopotamia.l
After the great Indus Civilization collapsed in 2000 B.C., groups of Indo-Europeans called Aryans (“noble ones”) traveled to northwest India and reigned during what is called the Vedic age. The mingling of ideas from the Aryan and Indus Valley religions formed the basis of Hinduism, and the gods Shiva, Kali, and Brahma all have their roots in Aryan civilization. The Aryans also recorded the Vedas, the first Hindu scriptures, and introduced a caste system based on ethnicity and occupation.l
Alexander the Great invaded India partly because he wanted to solve the mystery of the “ocean,” which he had been told was a huge, continuous sea that flowed in a circle around the land. When he reached the Indian Ocean, he sacrificed some bulls to Poseidon for leading him to his goal.m
Greek sculpture strongly influenced many portrayals of Indian gods and goddess, particularly after the conquest of Alexander the Great around 330B.C. In fact, early Indian gods had Greek features and only later did distinct Indian styles emerge.m
Chandragupta Maurya (340-290 B.C.), a leader in India who established the Mauryan Empire (321-185 B.C.), was guarded by a band of women on horseback.a
When the first independent prime minister of India, pacifist Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), was featured in Vogue, his distinctive close fitting, single-breasted jacket briefly became an important fashion statement for the Mod movement in the West. Named the Nehru jacket, the prime minister’s coat was popularized by the Beatles and worn by such famous people as Johnny Carson (1925-2005) and Sammy Davis Jr. (1925-1990).
Thursday, 4 August 2011
Travel Quotes
“Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life.” – Michael Palin
“I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine.” – Caskie Stinnett
“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.” – Fitzhugh Mullan
“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” – John Steinbeck
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.” – Bumper sticker
“Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you traveled.” – Mohammed
“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Tzu
“You lose sight of things… and when you travel, everything balances out.” – Daranna Gidel
“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” – Jack Kerouac
“There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.” – Charles Dudley Warner
“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese
“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill
“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” – James Michener
“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J. R. R. Tolkien
“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” – Freya Stark
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine
“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber
“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – Jawaharial Nehru
“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” – Paul Theroux
“Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by.” – Robert Frost
“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” – Aldous Huxley
“People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.” – Dagobert D. Runes
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller
“The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G. K. Chesterton
“A traveler without observation is a bird without wings.” – Moslih Eddin Saadi
“The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” – Rudyard Kipling
“Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.” – Paul Theroux
“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” – Clifton Fadiman
“The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.” – G.K. Chesterton
“It is better to travel well than to arrive.” – Buddha
“I should like to spend the whole of my life in traveling abroad, if I could anywhere borrow another life to spend afterwards at home.” – William Hazlitt
“A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead and dreams of a faraway place. A traveler on the plane sees the farmhouse… and thinks of home.” – Carl Burns
“Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken.”
– Frank Herbert
“When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money.” – Susan Heller
“It is not down in any map; true places never are.” – Herman Melville
“People don’t take trips – trips take people.” – John Steinbeck
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust
“If you come to a fork in the road, take it.” – Yogi Berra
“I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” – Mark Twain
“Don’t listen to what they say. Go see.” – Chinese Proverb
“The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes “sight-seeing.” – Daniel J. Boorstin
“Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.” – Charles Kuralt
“I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.” – Rosalia de Castro
“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” – Pat Conroy
“It is not fit that every man should travel; it makes a wise man better, and a fool worse.” – William Hazlitt
“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.” – Douglas Adams
“What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do – especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.” – William Least Heat Moon
“The rewards of the journey far outweigh the risk of leaving the harbor.” – Unknown
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust
“I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can’t read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can’t even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.” – Bill Bryson
“I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine.” – Caskie Stinnett
“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.” – Fitzhugh Mullan
“A journey is like marriage. The certain way to be wrong is to think you control it.” – John Steinbeck
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance.” – Bumper sticker
“Don’t tell me how educated you are, tell me how much you traveled.” – Mohammed
“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Tzu
“You lose sight of things… and when you travel, everything balances out.” – Daranna Gidel
“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.” – Jack Kerouac
“There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.” – Charles Dudley Warner
“Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things – air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky – all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it.” – Cesare Pavese
“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” – Tim Cahill
“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” – James Michener
“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – Lao Tzu
“Not all those who wander are lost.” – J. R. R. Tolkien
“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.” – Freya Stark
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine
“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber
“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – Jawaharial Nehru
“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” – Paul Theroux
“Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by.” – Robert Frost
“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” – Aldous Huxley
“People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.” – Dagobert D. Runes
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller
“The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G. K. Chesterton
“A traveler without observation is a bird without wings.” – Moslih Eddin Saadi
“The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it.” – Rudyard Kipling
“Travel is glamorous only in retrospect.” – Paul Theroux
“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” – Clifton Fadiman
“The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.” – G.K. Chesterton
“It is better to travel well than to arrive.” – Buddha
“I should like to spend the whole of my life in traveling abroad, if I could anywhere borrow another life to spend afterwards at home.” – William Hazlitt
“A child on a farm sees a plane fly overhead and dreams of a faraway place. A traveler on the plane sees the farmhouse… and thinks of home.” – Carl Burns
“Without new experiences, something inside of us sleeps. The sleeper must awaken.”
– Frank Herbert
“When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money.” – Susan Heller
“It is not down in any map; true places never are.” – Herman Melville
“People don’t take trips – trips take people.” – John Steinbeck
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust
“If you come to a fork in the road, take it.” – Yogi Berra
“I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” – Mark Twain
“Don’t listen to what they say. Go see.” – Chinese Proverb
“The traveler was active; he went strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes “sight-seeing.” – Daniel J. Boorstin
“Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.” – Charles Kuralt
“I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.” – Rosalia de Castro
“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quietest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.” – Pat Conroy
“It is not fit that every man should travel; it makes a wise man better, and a fool worse.” – William Hazlitt
“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.” – Douglas Adams
“What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do – especially in other people’s minds. When you’re traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don’t have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road.” – William Least Heat Moon
“The rewards of the journey far outweigh the risk of leaving the harbor.” – Unknown
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust
“I can’t think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can’t read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can’t even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.” – Bill Bryson
Traditions & Customs in India
Every country has its own customs and traditions. While it is considered good manners to leave a little bit of your drink in certain regions of the world, in others you could end up offending the host with such a gesture. India is no different. Interestingly, while certain traditions will work in one part of the country they could lead to an unpleasant incident in the other.
If backpacking through this geographically and culturally diverse country, it will help to know a little more than just the art of reading the map. Of course the more common customs that are prevalent round the world also find a place here. So going to holy places with alcohol on your breath is not highly recommended, neither is propositioning a lady.
Below are some customs that should help to prevent you from offending anyone while you travel around India
Religious sentiments
In India almost anything can be holy. So right from a cow to a river, anything could have religious value. Even a small stone on the side of a road could be a camouflaged God and a simple tree could be worshiped too. So watch carefully before you tread on any of these.
If you find a few flowers, some red or orange threads tied around or even a black or red anoint, do inquire if the place has religious significance. You do not want to hurt any religious feelings while on your holiday. And when it comes to India almost everyone is of a religious bent of mind, so caution is highly advised on this front.
Greetings
A ‘Namaste’ with folded hands does just fine all over the country, however if you decide to shake hands instead, maintain a little caution when doing so with the opposite sex. While the larger metropolitan cities are usually not a problem, you could raise an eyebrow if visiting the interiors of India. A man trying to shake a lady’s hand could be seen as overstepping of boundaries, while a lady doing the same to a man could end up sending out a sexual signal. Sticking to a ‘hello’ with a nod of the head is a safer option as compared to shaking hands, unless the other person puts the arm out first.
Religious Places
Unlike the West where churches are more common and shoes are allowed in religious places, India follows different norms.
You cannot enter a Hindu temple with shoes on.
Women are not allowed to enter a Muslim place of prayer.
All Sikh religious places will require you to keep your head covered
apart from taking your shoes off.
The holy flowers cannot be thrown anywhere apart from the designated places.
Non- vegetarian food is not permissible in most religious places, while you may find a few exceptions in temples of Rajasthan where the practice of animal sacrifice is still undertaken.
Keep these tips in mind; since there is no missing the religious spots when in India, almost every corner has one.
Clothes
India is a conservative country and while it is true that the larger cities do see a lot of flamboyant dressing, in the interiors this could call for unnecessary attention. So rather than a pair of shorts, it would be better to stick with cargos and avoid show of skin especially for woman. You will be able to find a lot of traditional clothes that are easy to wear and yet allow you to blend in with the locals.
Food
To enjoy what you eat you should make sure that your food is low on spice, since Indian food on an average is very spicy and can upset your stomach and holiday for several days. But apart from this there are certain other customs that you must know about.
In most of the southern region of India, serving food on a banana leaf is common courtesy.
Rarely will you be offered cutlery in the smaller hotels of the towns.
Leaving a 10% tip is enough right from the big hotels to the small shacks, but if you do not wish to do so, you will not be offending anyone.
Refusing holy food can be a problem, so watch for that. In case you don’t want to eat the ‘Prasad’, simply keep it with you instead of refusing to take it.
Marriages
There are various types of wedding in India and while in some places simply putting on bangles on a girl’s wrist is considered a proposal, in others an exchange of flower garlands between the couple is enough. So be careful before you undertake any such activity. Applying vermilion powder in a girl’s hair (parting) is also on the same lines and will declare you wedded to the woman.
The diversity that India has to offer makes it the ideal holiday destination for the adventure traveler. However, a holiday that is marred with unpleasant incidences is no ones idea of fun. So work with the tips listed above and you will be surprised how quickly the people here open their hearts and homes to guests. After all there is an age old Indian saying that goes ‘athithi devo bhava’ meaning the guest is equal to god.
If backpacking through this geographically and culturally diverse country, it will help to know a little more than just the art of reading the map. Of course the more common customs that are prevalent round the world also find a place here. So going to holy places with alcohol on your breath is not highly recommended, neither is propositioning a lady.
Below are some customs that should help to prevent you from offending anyone while you travel around India
Religious sentiments
In India almost anything can be holy. So right from a cow to a river, anything could have religious value. Even a small stone on the side of a road could be a camouflaged God and a simple tree could be worshiped too. So watch carefully before you tread on any of these.
If you find a few flowers, some red or orange threads tied around or even a black or red anoint, do inquire if the place has religious significance. You do not want to hurt any religious feelings while on your holiday. And when it comes to India almost everyone is of a religious bent of mind, so caution is highly advised on this front.
Greetings
A ‘Namaste’ with folded hands does just fine all over the country, however if you decide to shake hands instead, maintain a little caution when doing so with the opposite sex. While the larger metropolitan cities are usually not a problem, you could raise an eyebrow if visiting the interiors of India. A man trying to shake a lady’s hand could be seen as overstepping of boundaries, while a lady doing the same to a man could end up sending out a sexual signal. Sticking to a ‘hello’ with a nod of the head is a safer option as compared to shaking hands, unless the other person puts the arm out first.
Religious Places
Unlike the West where churches are more common and shoes are allowed in religious places, India follows different norms.
You cannot enter a Hindu temple with shoes on.
Women are not allowed to enter a Muslim place of prayer.
All Sikh religious places will require you to keep your head covered
apart from taking your shoes off.
The holy flowers cannot be thrown anywhere apart from the designated places.
Non- vegetarian food is not permissible in most religious places, while you may find a few exceptions in temples of Rajasthan where the practice of animal sacrifice is still undertaken.
Keep these tips in mind; since there is no missing the religious spots when in India, almost every corner has one.
Clothes
India is a conservative country and while it is true that the larger cities do see a lot of flamboyant dressing, in the interiors this could call for unnecessary attention. So rather than a pair of shorts, it would be better to stick with cargos and avoid show of skin especially for woman. You will be able to find a lot of traditional clothes that are easy to wear and yet allow you to blend in with the locals.
Food
To enjoy what you eat you should make sure that your food is low on spice, since Indian food on an average is very spicy and can upset your stomach and holiday for several days. But apart from this there are certain other customs that you must know about.
In most of the southern region of India, serving food on a banana leaf is common courtesy.
Rarely will you be offered cutlery in the smaller hotels of the towns.
Leaving a 10% tip is enough right from the big hotels to the small shacks, but if you do not wish to do so, you will not be offending anyone.
Refusing holy food can be a problem, so watch for that. In case you don’t want to eat the ‘Prasad’, simply keep it with you instead of refusing to take it.
Marriages
There are various types of wedding in India and while in some places simply putting on bangles on a girl’s wrist is considered a proposal, in others an exchange of flower garlands between the couple is enough. So be careful before you undertake any such activity. Applying vermilion powder in a girl’s hair (parting) is also on the same lines and will declare you wedded to the woman.
The diversity that India has to offer makes it the ideal holiday destination for the adventure traveler. However, a holiday that is marred with unpleasant incidences is no ones idea of fun. So work with the tips listed above and you will be surprised how quickly the people here open their hearts and homes to guests. After all there is an age old Indian saying that goes ‘athithi devo bhava’ meaning the guest is equal to god.
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