Travelling and exploring new places is almost on everyone’s bucket list nowadays. It has reached new dimensions in recent years thanks to social media, which brims with travelogues, blogs, vlogs, reels and what not. Travelling, which was a way to relax, see and explore places, has now turned into a career in itself. Many are using social media to build a profile, talking and posting about the places they visit, garner views and make revenue out of it.

Recently, we had been on a trip to Manali, a place which I had been listening about from childhood. I visited there first time to experience snow and snow-capped mountains. As it was the end of the tourist season, we didn’t experience snowfall, but we did see the beautiful white mountains. It was a blessing in disguise that there was much less traffic as our well-behaved Punjabi driver, was explaining. There would be road blockages for hours together at times during the peak season. I still had this feeling lingering for not been able to see Manali in its full glory when it snowed for days and everything around turned all white and picturesque.

We did enjoy rafting, though waters of the Beas river were shallow and did not offer the adventure I was looking for but it did well for my wife. Zipline near the Solang valley, India’s longest and the highest, felt good too, whereas a full-flowing river below would have prepared for that adrenaline rush. That one sport left on our list was paragliding and we enquired about it on the way to Kullu as there was a line of shops along the highway offering adventure sports.

It was mid-noon and the man behind the counter told us that it wasn’t the right time of the day to try paragliding. As the winds turn rough and unpredictable by noon, he asked us to come the next morning as it would be pleasant and safer. The next day though we couldn’t go to the same counter, and we tried at another along the highway.

When we enquired about the certification of the pilots, the man told us that they will be joining us at the hill top and we could check it out there only. But as we reached the hill top in a four-wheel drive jeep along the narrow, untarred hill road, we forgot all that as we reached the edge of the hill from where we were supposed to run and take-off along with the pilot and the parachute. Fortunately, we landed all safe on the ground and the experience was all great except for the nagging of the pilot mid-air to pay him a little more so that he can do all the adventurous manoeuvres, for all of which I said a simple “No” and requested him not to spoil my joy by doing that.

Just a week after that when the nation mourned the death of several tourists including children in a government-run boat tragedy on the Narmada river, I couldn’t help relating and wondering about the prevailing unsafe conditions of tourism in the country. It’s true that anything unregulated turns into a mafia and gets governed by the whims and fancies of the tour operators. That is when the rulebooks get dusted, safety aspects are thrown to the winds. Otherwise, how could a boat or any other activity be operated in a prevailing unsafe condition putting the lives at risk? I remembered the tour operator who turned us down from trying paragliding in the noon. What would have happened if he had asked us to try, just to earn a few more bucks?

Currently, treated as a State subject, the States must come forward to regulate tourism giving utmost importance to the safety of the tourists. There should be SOPs visibly displaced at all points to indicate do’s and don’ts, the safety checks and aspects to follow and the options to escalate the matter when one is not satisfied with the conditions. Slogans like ‘Atithi devo bhava’ or ‘the consumer is the most important visitor on our premises’ should not just remain on paper so that tourism gives an etched experience and a pleasant memory rather than an enduring trauma.

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