On Hassan... And Tourism

The glossy booklets on India's tourist attractions printed by The State in New Delhi always contain the image of the naked statue of Bahubali in Sravanabelagola. Hasan is the nearest city to this wonder of our ancient civilization so I decided to check the place out yesterday. Along with me was Suneet Shukla, a young journalist from the Indian Express in Bangalore.

Now, in Hasan itself, there are no signs of any tourism industry. I have just seen one foreigner in 7 days. Predictably, there were no tourist buses to Sravanabelagola. We had to take the government bus. This is not a direct bus. We had to change buses en route. The buses were rattletraps. The roads were too narrow. I feel nervous when the big bus overtakes a slow two-wheeler.

The statue of Bahubali is located on top of a massive rock that dominates the small town of Sravanabelagola. You have to walk barefoot up a very long line of steps carved out on the rock face. It was slow going, but the effort was well worth it. I was much inspired by the statue of the naked Jain saint. Alone, unarmed and unclothed he had preached his message - and the people listened. I have seen another ancient statue like this one in the nearby hill town of Karkala. I have also visited Moodabidri, the "Kashi of the Jains," also located nearby. The Jains are a non-violent, non-theistic, trading community. There is much more to our Indian civilization than Hindutva.

There were very few tourists in Sravanabelagola. I saw only two foreigners. It seems the town fills up only during the annual Jain festival, when the devout come. It is a town of annual pilgrimage. It is not a tourist town.

We took a long break on top of the rock after coming out of the enclosure where the great statue is located. We chose a shaded corner and stood around enjoying the cool weather and the lovely view. There are wide open green spaces all around, there is a lake below, but we see that the town of Sravanabelagola has been cramped into a small corner of the big picture. From up there it looks like cars cannot move within the town. This is local overcrowding amidst abundant space - a common urban feature throughout India.

We returned to Hasan by the evening. Suneet engaged an autorickshaw to look for some grass and found some terrible stuff. We smoked it anyway. Spent the evening drinking hugely overtaxed beer. Not much fun being a tourist here.

Today, I just want to plant the idea - of tourism. There are two other attractions near Hasan, Halebid and Belur, and I plan to visit them next week. Otherwise, the city of Hasan has all the qualifications necessary to be on the tourism map. Street food is excellent, cheap and clean - indeed, it is a treasure-trove of ancient knowledge. The weather is simply perfect. The scenery is pleasing. What is missing is Liberty. What is missing are roads. What is missing is the vision of a big tourism trade. In Bangalore they only talk of IT - and, these days, mining. Tourism is the world's biggest industry. One tourist creates 12 local jobs. Tourism is the industry of fun and holidays - and an "open society." We have a great deal of untapped potential here. Hasan proves it.