Jodhpur

Recently I had the good luck to visit a very beautiful part of Rajasthan and I was completely enamored by the beauty of Jodhpur. Even though I saw very little of the city but the Mehrangarh fort completely had me awestruck with its beauty. Along with the fort I also visited the local market there which was like any other small town market. We also had a beautiful evening over camel rides, bonfire in the middle of desert, local folk music and dance followed by a sumptuous traditional dinner. Even though we missed out the view of seeing the sunset behind the sand dunes we were rewarded by a beauiful rainin the desert something which even the locals are granted only once in a wile. However among all this gaiety something which also struck me was the poverty of the locals, whether it was the guides who showed us around, or the men dressed in colourful traditional clothes posing at the fort, or the waiters who served us, the people who took us for the camel rides or even the local market shops across the city. I was shocked that even despite the rains the dancers performed without adequate cover. While the speakers were covered the dancers and their instruments were not given any shade. The reason as I guessed was that they would not be paid unless they performed in the evening. Eventually we all did come out and stood there and enjoyed the performance but the discomfort of the performers was apparent as they struggled to cover their instruments which would lose thir melody if seeped with damp.
I wonder that even though Rajasthan and especially Jodhpur have registered themselves as a favorite tourist destination, what with a couple of high profile weddings having been recently performed in the city with great glam and shine, then why are we not being able to reap the profits of a flourishing tourism industry. Why is the lot of people who are the original inhabitants of the place not changing. Even though additional jobs are being generated but the quality of jobs is also important. Is the cause for it apathy from the system which fails to organize services in a way. Even if we look at the infrastructure of the city it is extremely poor and connectivity in terms of frequency of flights it is fairly low and the services provided at the airports is also not of the highest quality. Illiteracy is fairly rampant across the various sections of people we discussed above...in our bid to attract tourists to the rich tradition of the city are we also selling them our poverty (I saw tourists clicking pictures of naked kids and women dong manual labor (unknown to them in their own countries)). I believe it is time we sat up and looked at ways not only to attract more tourists but also develop tourism as an industry within the region so that the locals can earn a better style of living.
Somethings which we can quickly correct are:

• I went through the market looking for traditional art and craft and found very shops which were few and far between. Even the quality of stuff they were selling was very limited. Greater experimentation which targets not only international tourists but carries novelty even for the local tourists would ensure greater growth of the city in terms of the general living standard of the people.
• Though this has been hared on for long but educating the local craftsmen and setting up something along the lines of e-chaupals to ensure they can get good rates for the work they do will ensure that they are not cheated (the traditional handicrafts that are sold are not only made in Jodhpur but the surrounding villages also).
• More forums and creating opportunities for the locals to showcase the rich heritage will also lead to greater sales and higher standards of living whether it is through setting up traditional markets on the line of "dilli haat" or whether it is through organizing on going shows across the city for the folk music and dance.
• Reducing the disparity of the services available in the city at one end there are the 5 star hotels and their restaurants on the other end it is the roads-side food. Today there is a requirement for various classes of restaurants and services across the city.
• The goverment can come forward with scemes for ready available capital for small businesses which can help the locals create their own set-ups rather than being dependent on other bigger set-up to buy their products and services
• Above all this the most important thing would be to aggressively marketing the place as tourist destination and ensuring better infrastructure and greater connectivity would help reap rich benefits for the city and locals residing there and prevent various folk arts from dying due to poor commercial value of the same.