New Delhi, July 16
Sharp and witty reactions were available from the tourism industry on India hotting up as a destination for learning the art of making perfect love.
The Tribune on Wednesday (July 16) carried an exclusive report about western self-styled “sex gurus”, specially from Sweden, who are now planning to bring “students” this winter to erotic art temples of Khajuraho, the sun-bathed beaches of Goa and the mystic ghats of Varanasi for “field training” and an interaction with Indian sex experts.
For many western men and women, sexual life is unfulfilling. In Sweden, expensive sex techniques teaching institutes have come up. They believe that India can teach their students how to make perfect love. “It will inject sex tourism into India and popular Goa beaches and religious destinations like Varanasi and Khajhurao may become like the South East Asia’s hot sex spots,’’ said Rajesh Mishra, vice-president of the Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association of India.
The western sex institutes want to “educate” their students about the Kama Sutra and tantric sex methods. They believe that a visit to the Khajhurao temples would help them understand the art of love. And a trip to the fascinating ghats of Varanasi would give them an enlightened spiritual feeling.
Authored by Mallanaga Vatsyayana, the Kama Sutra is an ancient Sanskrit text widely considered to be the standard work on love.
The Khajuraho temples (Madhya Pradesh) are one of the most popular destinations for foreign tourists. Khajuraho has the largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples. The Khajuraho group of monuments has been listed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
A senior officer of the Ministry of Tourism, who felt shy of talking about foreigners identifying India as the land of sex, said, “We want foreign tourists to see an incredible India, but not through the eyes of
their sex institutes.”
India receives about 50 lakh foreign tourists every year. “India, always warm and inviting, is a place of infinite variety. Foreign tourists can live like a maharaja in the ambiance of royal forts and palaces, instead of wasting their time and money on so-called sex experts,” the officer said adding that their visit with sex in mind can’t be called tourism.’’
Agreeing, an expert on tourism, Sunil Puri, said: “Of course, no government would welcome such foreign tourists. India is known for yoga and spiritual gurus, not sex or love gurus.”
Assistant director of the Madhya Pradesh information department, Sanjay Saxena, was of the view that “if someone wants to come to India to do research on the Khajuraho temples or on the Kama Sutra, they are welcome. After all, Khajuraho is a very popular destination and the Kama Sutra is famous the world over.”
A senior member of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), Dharamvir Ahluwalia, said that, of late, they have been getting a large number of inquiries from Europe about hotel bookings for Goa and Khajuraho.” “They are also asking in detail about the Kama Sutra and famous oil massage of Goa and Kerala,” he said. IATO is the national apex body of the tourism industry.
Traditionally, the first transmission of Kama Sutra, also known as Kama Shastra, (Discipline of Kama) is attributed to Nandi, the sacred bull, Lord Shiva’s doorkeeper, who was moved to sacred utterance by overhearing the lovemaking of the god and his wife Parvati and later recorded his utterances for the benefit of mankind.
Arun Kumar, associated with a leading tourism trade magazine “Destination Worldwide”, said: “We should not bother about India earning a negative image through such tourism.”
``In fact,’’ Kumar said, ``India also need a sex techniques teaching institute. It is just a myth that India is the land of erotic arts. We do not have any sex guru. The Kama Sutra and the temples of Khajuraho are of no help to learn about how to make perfect love.’’
“Forget the westerners,” he added, “even many Indians after silver and golden wedding anniversaries do not enjoy better sexual life. The newly weds are left to learn the basic knowledge of sex on their own. In schools, sex education will prevent teenagers going haywire and help them escape from the dangers of HIV/AIDS.”
