Where everything is an opportunity....
A guided tour to a Prime Minister’s village is fine but not for one who is not even one-year old. But the passion and love for Modi in our country seems to be at a frenzy or rather in Gujarat that they have started a one-day tour of his birth place!
Known as ‘A Rise from Modi’s village’, it’s a one-day tour, starting from Ahmedabad and travels down 62 miles to his tiny own – Vadnagar. Started tentatively by Akshar Travels, it was earlier a once-a-week tour but it has become so popular that from 20th April, it will become a daily tour. Some 10,000 people, mostly NRIs have already taken this tour but this daily tour is expected to see more Indians.
So what all does the tour cover? The house where Modi was born, his primary and high school and one could even get a chance meeting with his classmates. There is really not much to see as such but just a feel of where Modi began his life from. The tour ends at the train station, where Modi used to help his father sell tea. And yes, you can also visit the temple where Modi played the drums during aartis and festivals. And of course there are now many stories, some real, maybe some fictional, creating a legend.
The cost of ‘getting to know your PM’s roots’? Rs.600 and this will come with a bottle of water and not-to-forget, a lunch box of veggie food. No complimentary chai. Wonder why do we not have such tours of more fitting and true legends like Lokmanya Tilak, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ambdedkar, Sardar Patel, Jayprakash Narayan…. No names come to mind amongst the newer crop of ‘leaders’.