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Deluxe Moksha

Penance on a bed of nails is being replaced by comfort 'n leisure

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Deluxe Moksha
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It’s an old family story. Years ago, when a grand-uncle decided to go on a pilgrimage to Gangotri-Yamunotri, he was given a tearful farewell by the entire community, as though he might never return home. The climb to the mouths of the two rivers was a treacherous trek; no proper roads, no electricity, a few odd places to brave the harsh weather and stay the night, frugal, rationed meals and every likelihood of the trip turning out to be the very last journey of your life. 

Now, fast forward to the present. As the holy glaciers become accessible to the crowds after a long winter hibernation, there’s a totally different spin to a pilgrim’s progress. The hike is still arduous, but there are Char Dham (Gangotri-Yamunotri-Badrinath-Kedarnath) excursion packages to deliver your piece of salvation in comfort and leisure. Air-conditioned cars and jeeps to whiz you closer to your destination on the motorable parts of the route. Luxury camps with spacious, weather-proof tents, attached baths and hot and cold water, multi-cuisine dining facilities, special aarti services, guided visits to the shrines and even religious discourses, yoga lessons and bonfires on demand.

What’s more, the Union ministry of tourism is in aggressive promotion mode. As part of its Incredible India campaign, it has roped in spiritual guru Deepak Chopra to pitch India in the West as a route to God, peace and tranquility. The catchphrase is—India: Holy, Whole, Healing. "Our aim is to present spirituality in a contemporary manner to include aspects of wellness of the mind and soul," says Amitabh Kant, joint secretary, ministry of tourism.

Spiritual tourism in India has largely been a spartan activity, the domain of the old and retired, and of devout middle-class families. It has also been favoured by backpacking foreigners seeking moksha and some hash—on a budget—in places like Pushkar, Rishikesh and Varanasi. But slowly and subtly, spiritual tourism is shedding its shabby image to reveal a snazzy and glamorous face. 

It’s a chicken-and-egg situation. This segment of tourism is getting classier because of growing patronage by an upscale clientele, among them yuppie executives, rich nris and well-heeled foreigners. However, it’s also happening the other way around: the improvement in facilities and infrastructure is drawing the young and the affluent. "It’s not about cheap stay in some small-time ashram but about luxury camps and resorts," says Sanjay Basu of the travel company Far Horizon Tours Pvt Ltd. 

"At one time, Sai Baba’s home, Shirdi, had nothing. Now there are five-star hotels. As the affluent class is drawn in greater numbers, better hotels will come up," says Vishwas Dhonde, publicity and PR manager for the Maharastra Tourism Development Corporation. "Big players are getting into the market, a certain sophistication is being introduced into the experience," says Kant.

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Take a place like Haridwar, the quintessential temple town with dusty narrow lanes, colourful ghats, temples in every nook and cranny and all the chaos of small-town India. Opposite the Dudhadhari temple stands a cream, orange and yellow building that doesn’t quite fit in. It could be a swanky TV channel office in suburban Mumbai. But it’s actually part of a chain called Ginger—new, value-for-money, ‘smart basics’ hotels belonging to the Tata group’s Indian Hotels Company Ltd, of a kind never seen before in Haridwar. 

Simple, clean-cut, stylish, modern, with designer looks, hip signage, wi-fi connectivity, gym facilities, cyber cafe andATM, Ginger is obviously targeted at the young and the restless. No wonder they are calling it a GenNext product. When Ginger opened its first property in Whitefield, Bangalore, the big draw was the IT business located there, but the Sai Baba ashram proved to be a good source of additional revenue. Now, religious tourism has become an important segment in the company’s business plan. "We are looking to open these hotels at several religious destinations. There is an absence of branded facilities in these locations. With good hotels, we will witness new tourism in these areas," says Prabhat Pani,CEO, Indian Hotels. Coming up next: a Ginger in Bhubaneshwar, the gateway to JagannathPuri.

Similarly, Leisure Hotels first set up luxury camps for pilgrims in association with Cox and Kings during the Mahakumbh in Allahabad in 2001. At that time, they attracted some negative reactions, particularly among the Naga sadhus, for being too luxurious to befit a holy occasion. But things have changed. The company’s tented accommodation on the Char Dham circuit, offered for the past three years, has been snapped up. Its heritage hotel, Haveli Hari Ganga, near Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar, with its own private bathing ghat and in-house pandit, has been so successful that another haveli is being restored to become a fully functional 45-room spa hotel in 18 months’ time.

"Earlier, Haridwar was not a must stay, it used to be more a day visit place en route to Rishikesh. Now people are staying because of better facilities. People are lapping up the new products," says Vibash Prasad, director, Leisure Hotels. About 25 per cent of Leisure’s business, concentrated in Uttaranchal, is focused on spiritual tourism, 40 per cent of its clients are from abroad, of which half areNRIs. The group expects earnings from its Char Dham circuit to grow by 20 per cent this year. 

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Other interesting tour packages are being worked out to lure more customers. According to Sahara Global, a new travel
company launched by the Sahara Group, pilgrim tourism accounts for 13.8 per cent of the total domestic tourism pie. However, only 6.8 per cent of spiritual tourists opt for packaged tours. "We feel there is a huge potential in this segment which can be tapped by offering customised and well-organised tours," says Romi Datta, ceo, Sahara Global. The company is offering more than 50 such packages and aims to garner 10 per cent of its domestic revenues from religious tourism.

It’s a secular business in which every religion finds representation. There are packages to Ajmer Sharif, Buddhist monasteries, and gurudwaras in Punjab. The Buddha trail, for instance, is aimed at attracting Southeast Asian tourists. Last heard, Bihar’s chief minister Nitish Kumar was planning to bolster the state’s tourism industry by tapping into the rich Buddhist heritage. There is a proposal for two state-of-the-art tourist parks at Nalanda and Rajgir and plans to build a replica of the ancient Pataliputra. 

However, spirituality is not just about bhajan and aarti, holy rivers and temple towns. It is being pitched as a lifestyle and culture thing. For instance, a package offering a visit to mosques in Delhi includes a commentary on Sufi music traditions. Far Horizon has gone even further in creating innovative itineraries centred on spiritual festivals. It has identified 270 such festivals in Kerala alone, 32 in Rajasthan and about 11 in Ladakh. "It’s living spirituality, history and culture in its pure form," says Basu of Far Horizon. "A festival is the most dynamic aspect of religion, the show window of fervour and devotion." A majority of his clients come from abroad and the most recent arrivals are from the Metropolitan Museum, New York. "They (westerners) are able to come face-to-face with philosophical aspects not found in their own culture," says Basu. For theNRI community, such visits are not just religious experiences. "It is yet another effort to stay connected to their roots," says Datta. 

"For young Indians going on treks like the Yamunotri is like a rediscovery of India," says Kant. And they are also taking in other experiences on the pilgrimage route. Haridwar, for instance, is combined with a spa visit to Ananda or white water rafting in Rishikesh. Hotels have been quick to spot the opportunities. Haveli in Haridwar offers a holistic experience with meditation, yoga and spa facilities. Viraj Mohan, a 27-year-old who works in event management and the export and retail trade, looks on such spiritual tourism as an "opportunity to beat the stress". 

No one’s complaining about this new trend—except perhaps God himself. Would he like to be so easy to reach? And with so many frills thrown in? 


with Payal Kapadia in Mumbai

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