Land of plenty
Jaipur, India -- A decade ago, Mannish Bharadwaj had to make the supreme sacrifice when he started work as a tour guide: the loss of status in a country where status means everything.
"I was educated in good schools and a good university," says Mr. Bharadwaj. "But five years ago, when I wanted to get married, I was turned down on quite a few offers. Being a tour guide carried a stigma."
Flamingos on Lake Pichola in Udaipur.
Today, however, Mr. Bharadwaj's fortunes are markedly different. He runs a successful tour agency in Jaipur, Innovative Destination Management Co. -- and he's happily married. "I've even seen doctors quit to become tour guides," he says.
Mr. Bharadwaj's career climb serves as one glimpse into the flood of change that is sweeping across India, as tourists come in record numbers to the world's largest democracy. Once known mainly for backwardness, poverty and crumbling infrastructure, India has seen its image transformed in the eyes of potential visitors into a nation of prosperous high-technology companies, universities turning out talented graduates, and a government introducing sweeping free-market reforms and pouring billions of dollars into new highways, airports and other improvements.
From the beaches of Goa to the palace hotels of Rajasthan to the Ayurvedic spas of Kerala, tourists from around the world are suddenly discovering India's considerable charms. In 2005, India reported four million foreign tourists, up 15% on the previous year, coming on top of a rise of 25% in 2004. This boom is thanks, in part, to government initiatives, including the Department of Tourism's two-year-old "Incredible India" campaign -- which includes a Web site listing city highlights, accommodation and government-approved tour guides.
The top hotels in India have often been among the world's most attractive. But my two-week swing of five Indian states last month showed some major infrastructure improvements as well. Highways are being built everywhere; for instance, a four-lane expressway from Udaipur to Jaipur, the two biggest destinations in Rajasthan, has cut travel time almost in half to five hours. Although the projects for privatization and new terminals in Mumbai and New Delhi have just gotten off the ground, many other airports around the country are already benefiting from modernization. The infamous, two-hour-long immigration lines at Mumbai airport are a thing of the past.
In addition, a slew of new domestic airlines are making travel both easier and cheaper. The Center for Asia Pacific Aviation says five airlines have started up in the past two years, with another five slotted for this year. Competition is heating up: Jet Airways, for example, India's largest domestic carrier, recently quoted me a fare of $520 round-trip from Kolkata to Hyderabad. But on the Internet, I was able to book two one-way flights on two new low-cost carriers, Air Deccan and Spice Jet, for a combined round-trip fare of less than $100.
But in this teeming country, whose economy is only now emerging from decades of lagging growth, lots of problems remain. Wrenching in-your-face poverty is still a fact of life in major cities like Mumbai and Kolkata. Touts are everywhere, following Westerners down the street with dogged persistence. Most taxis, trains and intercity buses are hopelessly antiquated. Despite an invasion planned by foreign hotel chains -- Paris-based Accor S.A. alone is considering as many as 50 new hotels for its Ibis, Novotel and Sofitel brands -- a shortage of hotel rooms is proving a major hassle. Two years ago, I was able to book my favorite Mumbai hotel, a renovated British-era apartment house called Shelley's, just a week in advance for the peak New Year's weekend. This year, Shelley's was filled weeks ahead for the entire month of January, and so were six other Mumbai hotels I called.
Locals sit outside the Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai
Here are snapshots from four of India's more popular destinations, and how the changes sweeping the country are transforming them:
Mumbai
Sporting a shaved head and a thin gold earring, Rajeev Samant is one of the new breed of yuppies who, along with the Bollywood movie stars, call Mumbai, the commercial and financial center of India, their home. Although he's 38, he still prefers dating to marriage, a fact that is causing no celebration in his more traditional Indian family. He recently moved from south Mumbai to the northern suburb of Bandra, where, he says, "the new bars and dance clubs are always buzzing until 4 a.m." Although he holds an engineering degree from Stanford University, he came back to India as a pioneer of sorts, to start a premium winery named Sula.
We're dining on such dishes as tea-grilled quail with basmati biryani at the Mediterranean-fusion Indigo Restaurant, where every seat is filled although it's a Monday night. "Five years ago they'd be happy to sell one $100 bottle of wine of month," Mr. Samant notes of Indigo. "Today they sell two or three most days." Mumbai, he declares, is "a boom town. Everyone eating here has their favorite French restaurant in Paris and London. Art prices have gone through the roof."
Mumbai is a city plagued by contrasts that can cast a pall over any vacation here. A visitor can't help but be stunned by the gap between the newly affluent and the long-time poor. Directly across from the Taj Mahal hotel, a little girl sleeps alone on the sidewalk under a filthy blanket. Beggars, some holding emaciated babies, pound on the windows of taxis occupied by Westerners stopped at traffic lights.
While there's no easy solution to the poverty, Mumbai is being swept by change, with hotels, roads, and airport facilities under construction or on the drawing board. And in a country that once saw thousands of university graduates each year unable to find work, hoteliers are facing a very new problem. "We want the MBAs to consider the hotel business rather than technology, the call centers and the growing airline sector," says Raymond Bickson, managing director of Indian Hotels Co. Ltd., which owns the Taj hotel chain.
PLUS: Although this is where the trendy scene is happening, Mumbai retains the architecture and much of the flavor of the days of the Raj.
MINUS: Hopelessly antiquated transportation infrastructure, from airport to taxis to roads.
HOTEL: Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Apollo Bunder, Colaba. Tel: 91-22-5665-3366. Rates from $250. A bit lacking in personal service, but the palace rooms are impeccable.
RESTAURANT: Trishna, Sai Baba Marg, Kala Ghoda. Tel: 91-22-2261-4991. Astonishing seafood; tears come to my eyes when I think of the king crab with butter and garlic.
Goa
The local cash registers were ringing furiously in December when the top executive of an Indian conglomerate decided to celebrate his 50th birthday in this former Portuguese colony, best known for its beach resorts. "His guests wiped us out," says Claudia Ajwani, who runs Sang Olda home furnishings store as well as a boutique hotel, Nilaya Hermitage, in Goa. "One of the guests, an Indian who owns an (information technology) company in California, furnished his entire California office from us," she says. "He wanted to 'Indianize' the office."
Panaji city church in Goa state.
The Nilaya Hermitage's rooms are often fully booked in high season -- despite the $500-a-night rate. Shops offering Indian designer clothing and furnishings are springing up everywhere; new restaurants specialize in everything from French to Tex-Mex. But it's no thanks to foreigners. "Goa is targeting the cheap charter flights from Europe who bring in the wrong kind of tourist," says Cezar Pinto, who owns a clothing and antique furniture store, Casa Goa. "Most of my customers are newly affluent Indians."
Even French restaurants rely on the Indian tourist trade. "Goan families, wealthy from tourist income, are traveling around the world and discovering French food," says Axel Tardy, a Frenchman who started Poisson Rouge at Baga beach two months ago. "And Indians are coming here from Bangalore with IT money. Goa is now like Cannes to Indians."
The attractions of Goa are considerable. Goans are known as the friendliest people in India and almost everyone speaks English. The isolated beach resorts, like the 28-acre Taj Holiday Village where I stayed, are magnificent, and a bargain compared with many other tourist destinations in India.
But Goa can be a downer at the same time. The narrow, potholed main road running along the beach towns of northern Goa is filled with bumper-to-bumper traffic, including beefy tattooed Europeans on motorbikes. The beaches are jammed with people, littered with discarded plastic and lined with tumbledown shacks selling food and drink. But many tourists consider the tawdry side of Goa an attraction, insists Santosh Kutty, general manager of Taj Holiday Village. "Goa used to be considered a hippie destination," he says. "This is all part of the ambiance."
PLUS: The high-end isolated hotels make for lovely beach resorts. Portuguese influence still lingers in the food and the old buildings.
MINUS: The roads are jammed and some beaches are overcrowded and dirty.
HOTEL: Taj Holiday Village, Sinquerim Beach, North Goa. Tel: 91-832-564-5858. Rates from $175. Luxury cottages and other facilities spread out on 28 beachfront acres.
RESTAURANT: Le Poisson Rouge, Baga beach. Tel: 91-832-394-5800. An innovative chef from Normandy doing French-Goan fusion.
Rajasthan
The 28-room, $70-a-night Garden Hotel in Udaipur -- one of Rajasthan's most breathtaking cities -- is definitely not one of the luxurious palace hotels that make the state of Rajasthan the most popular draw for tourists to India. Although the Garden Hotel is clean, comfortable and quiet, it pales in comparison to its opulent neighbor a short drive away, the Lake Palace, the ancestral home of the Maharana of Udaipur, where rooms go for $525 to $2,200 (and they don't even throw in breakfast).
But the current Maharana (that's a ruler's title similar to Maharaja), whose family lost political power a half-century ago, is proving a shrewd businessman. He runs an empire of eight luxury hotels, and in October he added the downscale Garden Hotel as his ninth property, renovated from former workers' housing. Although it opened too recently to be in any guidebook, it's already completely full during the current peak season. "It's very difficult to get a room in Udaipur at this price," says manager Ranjeet Singh.
From Udaipur's stunning waterside vistas to Jaipur's colorful chaos, there are plenty of tourists keen to make the trek to Rajasthan. But -- except for the very rich who stay in the palaces and the backpackers who patronize little guesthouses -- there's no place to put them. "We've tripled the number of visitors in three years to 1.2 million in 2005," says Vinod Zutschi, Rajasthan's secretary of tourism. "But our future growth rate may be decided by the number of rooms we can offer." There are now 5,000 rooms in classified hotels, those good enough to be given at least a one-star rating by the government. "We have an immediate need of 10,000 more and further growth requires an additional 10,000 in the next three years," he says.
The hotel crunch might prove India's most insurmountable problem in upgrading its infrastructure to accommodate the new waves of tourists. Agricultural and forested land is strictly protected, while in cities, a single resident of an apartment building can hold up demolition for many years by challenging the eviction notice in court. The problem has already hit the wallets of travelers: Several hotels I called for bookings had doubled the rates quoted in the September 2005 edition of the Lonely Planet guide to India.
PLUS: Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, providing a colorful Old City and a good base for travel around the state.
MINUS: Two million people means ugly urban sprawl detracting from the historic areas.
HOTEL: Devi Gahr, Village Delwara, Tehsil Nathdwara, Rajsamand. Tel: 91-29-5328-9211. Rates from $150. An impeccably restored former palace outside Udaipur.
RESTAURANT: Niros, Mirza Ismail Road, Jaipur. Tel: 91-141-237-4493. Upscale Rajasthani cuisine.
Kolkata
With offices in three Indian cities plus New York, London and Chicago, D.K. Chaudhuri, head of the computer software company Skytech Pvt. Ltd., didn't have to choose Kolkata as his corporate headquarters. After all, Kolkata -- which used to be known as Calcutta -- is best known for Mother Teresa and abject poverty, and it's governed by an avowedly Marxist party that runs the state of West Bengal (where the city is located).
So why Kolkata? "(It) was a terrible place for so many years," says Mr. Chaudhuri. "But from 2002 everything started to change. Whatever it is, the government is as practical as hell. It's the most proactive government I've ever seen. They behave like capitalists, no matter what the rhetoric."
The remarkable transformation of Kolkata is one of the great success stories of India. It could well start drawing adventurous tourists who want to witness most dramatically the contrasts between the old India and the new -- as well as take advantage of the country's most vibrant cultural life, where literature, dance, modern art and music all thrive. Downtown, the buildings are grimy, the air is seriously polluted by the ancient buses and taxis, and the dust-covered sidewalks serve as sleeping quarters for thousands of homeless. A half-hour's drive away, in the spotlessly clean Salt Lake district, it's another world. Gleaming, modern buildings, reached by broad, tree-lined boulevards, house hundreds of IT companies.
"We are always ready to welcome foreign and domestic companies with a red carpet," says Nirupam Sen, minister of commerce and industries in West Bengal. "In Kolkata, we're building the infrastructure with growth in mind. We actually export power."
PLUS: An opportunity to see the old India (from Raj-era buildings and jostling crowds to outdoor markets) and the new India (gleaming high-tech zones).
MINUS: Appalling air pollution.
HOTEL: Park Hotel, 17 Park St. Tel: 91-33-2249-9000. Rates from $200. Modern and stylish.
RESTAURANT: Aaheli, in the Peerless Inn, 12 Chowringhee Rd. Tel: 91-33-2228-0301. Great Bengali food, with freshwater fish the highlight.
旅游者眼中的印度变迁
十年前，印度人曼尼什?巴拉德瓦杰(Mannish Bharadwaj)开始当导游时不得不作出最大的牺牲，在这个身份地位代表一切的国度放弃自己的身份地位。
“我上的是很好的小学、中学和大学，”巴拉德瓦杰说，“但在5年前我想结婚成家时却屡屡遭拒，因为作导游有辱过身份。”
但现在，巴拉德瓦杰的命运发生了极大的变化：他在斋浦尔经营著一家成功的旅行社Innovative Destination Management Co.，并有了一个幸福的家庭。“我甚至都看到有医生改行做导游的，”巴拉德瓦杰说。
巴拉德瓦杰的职业发展就像是席卷印度的变革大潮中的一朵浪花。世界各地的游客纷至沓来，数量不断刷新历史纪录，成为这场变革的巨大推动力量。曾以落后、贫穷、破败的基础设施给人留下深刻印象的印度正在世人眼中慢慢转变形象，现在它是一个高科技企业兴旺发达的国家，每年有无数才华横溢的毕业生走出大学校门，政府也在不懈地推进自由市场改革，为兴建新的高速公路、机场并作出其他改善而不惜投入数十亿美元巨资。
从果阿的海滩，到拉贾斯坦邦的宫殿式旅馆，再到喀拉拉邦的阿育吠陀水疗，世界各地的游客似乎在一夜之间发现了印度的神奇魅力。继2004年到访外国游客增长25%之后，2005年印度共接待了400万名外国游客，较2004年增长15%。这在部分上要归功于政府的种种创新举措，包括旅游部门举办了长达两年的“Incredible India”推广活动：开通了一个网站，介绍各城市旅游景点、食宿和经政府核准的导游等信息。
印度的顶级酒店经常名列全球最具吸引力的酒店之列。但我上个月在印度5个邦游览了两周后发现，基础设施也有明显的改善。到处都在修建公路，比如，从斋浦尔到乌代布尔（拉贾斯坦邦两大旅游目的地）之间的4车道高速公路已经将行程缩短了一半，现在只需5个小时即可到达。虽然孟买和新德里的机场私有化项目和新航站还刚刚起步，印度其他地方的许多机场都已经从现代化进程中受益。孟买机场的外国人入境通道需排队两小时的情形已经成为历史。
此外，印度国内新冒出的一系列航空公司也让旅行变得更容易和便宜了。根据亚太航空中心(Center for Asia Pacific Aviation)的数据，过去两年印度新成立了5家航空公司，今年还会再成立5家。竞争日益升温。比如说，印度最大的国内航空公司Jet Airways最近从加尔各答到海得拉巴的往返机票报价是520美元。但在网上，我却能从Air Deccan和Spice Jet这两家新的航空公司处分别订到两张单程机票，加起来来回还不到100美元。
但在这个人口众多的国家，经济还刚刚走出几十年的缓慢增长开始提速，仍有很多问题亟待解决。贫穷依然随处可见，就连孟买和加尔各答这些大城市也不例外。向西方人兜售商品，锲而不舍一路跟过整条街的做法也屡见不鲜。大多数出租车、火车和城际巴士都破旧不堪。酒店房间总也不够，最让人头疼，虽然许多外国连锁酒店都计划在此扩张业务规模，巴黎的Accor S.A.就正在考虑在印度新开设50家酒店，分别采用旗下的Ibis、Novotel和Sofitel品牌。两年前，我还能在新年旺季期间提前一周在孟买我喜欢的一家英殖民时期的公寓酒店Shelley's订到房间，但今年，Shelley's整个1月份所有房间都提前好几周订满了，我打电话问到的另外6家孟买酒店也是一样。
以下就是我对印度四大旅游目的地的初步印象，以及冲击印度各地的种种变化正在如何改变著它们。
孟买(Mumbai)
理了个光头、戴著一只细细金耳环的拉杰夫?萨曼特(Rajeev Samant)是新涌现的雅皮一族。这些雅皮族和宝莱坞的电影明星们一样将印度的商业和金融中心孟买看作他们的乐园。虽然已经38岁，萨曼特还是决定不断约会女伴的生活方式，这种不结婚的选择自然让传统的家人感到不快。最近，他从孟买南边搬到了班德拉北郊，因为那里“新开的酒吧和舞厅一直营业到凌晨4点”。虽然拥有斯坦福大学工程学学位，他还是选择回到印度，开创了Sula这项高档葡萄酒业务。
我们在地中海风格的Indigo Restaurant吃饭，虽然已是周一午夜，这里依然宾客满堂。我们点了茶香烤鹌鹑，配著印度特产的basmati大米做成的比尔亚尼菜饭。“五年前他们（Indigo）一个月能卖出一瓶100美元的葡萄酒就很开心了，”萨曼特说，“现在他们差不多每天都能卖出去两三瓶。”孟买，用他的话来说，“是一座繁荣的城市。在这儿进餐的每个人都在巴黎和伦敦有自己最锺爱的法式餐厅。”
孟买是一座新旧交替、对比强烈的城市，游客们常常会被新富和旧穷之间的巨大差距而震惊。Taj Mahal酒店的正对面，一个小女孩孤单单地躺在路边，盖一块破旧肮脏的毯子。西方人乘坐的出租车如果在红灯前停下，乞丐们，有些还抱著瘦弱的婴儿，就会一哄而上，不停地拍打车窗。
消除贫困不是一件容易的事，孟买各处都在发生变化。酒店、道路、机场设施要么已经破土动工，要么正在规划当中。在这个一度每年都有上千名大学毕业生找不到工作的国家里，酒店经营者正面临著一项新的难题。“我们想招MBA来管理酒店，MBA不应再仅仅考虑科技公司、呼叫中心以及不断发展的航空业，”拥有Taj连锁酒店的Indian Hotels Co. Ltd.的董事总经理雷蒙德?比克森(Raymond Bickson)说。
优点：虽然流行时尚纷至沓来，孟买仍保留了很多历史建筑，洋溢著浓厚的英殖民时代的气息。
缺点：交通设施的陈旧令人绝望，机场、出租车和道路无一例外。
酒店：Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, 位于Colaba的Apollo Bunder；电话：91-22-5665-3366；房价：250美元起。服务略有欠缺，但那些宫殿式的房间美奂美仑。
餐饮：Trishna，位于Kala Ghoda的Sai Baba Marg；电话：91-22-2261-4991。海鲜绝佳。到现在，我都能记得那些黄油大蒜烹制的巨蟹。
果阿(Goa)
去年12月，印度某集团公司的高管决定在果阿以海滩度假胜地著称的前葡萄牙殖民地庆祝50大寿，一时间果阿财源广进。“他的客人快把我们忙死了，”克罗迪?埃瓦尼(Claudia Ajwani)说。他在果阿有一间家居用品店Sang Olda和一家酒店Nilaya Hermitage。“有一位印度客人在美国加州拥有一家信息技术公司，从我们这里订购了很多东西用来装饰他在加州的所有办公室，”她说，“他想让办公室‘具有印度风格’。”
埃瓦尼的酒店Nilaya Hermitage的房间在旺季常常客满──哪怕房价高达每晚500美元。出售印度设计师设计的服装和家居用品的店铺、新开业的餐馆鳞次栉比，从法式大餐到Tex-Mex风味，应有尽有。但这一切并不能归功于外国游客。“果阿瞄准那些乘坐廉价航班从欧洲来的游客，这些游客并不是我们的顾客群，”拥有一家服装和古董家具店的卡萨?戈阿(Casa Goa)说，“我的大多数顾客都是新富裕起来的印度人。”
即使那些法式餐厅也主要仰仗印度游客的光顾。“通过经营旅游富裕起来的果阿家庭开始到世界各地去旅游，品尝法式美味，”两个月前刚刚在果阿Baga海滩开了一家Poisson Rouge餐厅的法国人阿谢尔?塔迪(Axel Tardy)说，“依托信息技术产业富裕起来的印度人也纷纷从班加罗尔赶来。果阿现在简直就是印度的戛纳。”
果阿魅力非凡。果阿人的友善好客闻名全印度，几乎每个果阿人都能讲英语。海中独立的海滩度假村胜景迷人，我住的占地28英亩的Taj Holiday Village就是其中之一，价格也较印度其他度假地合算。
但果阿也有令人沮丧之处。果阿北部海滩城镇的主干道路狭窄崎岖，交通阻塞司空见惯，间或还能看到骑著摩托车的身材壮硕、刻有纹身的欧洲人。海滩上人山人海，到处是废弃的塑料瓶，一行行售卖食品和饮料的棚屋摇摇欲坠。但很多游客都把果阿俗艳的一面看作诱人之处，Taj Holiday Village的总经理萨托什?库蒂(Santosh Kutty)就这么认为。“果阿曾经是嬉皮士的圣地，”他说，“这些都是果阿的一部分。”
优点：迷人的海滩上有高档的、闹中取静的酒店。食品和历史建筑物依然可见葡萄牙的影响。
缺点：道路拥挤不堪，有些海滩过于拥挤和肮脏。
酒店：Taj Holiday Village，位于果阿北部Sinquerim海滩；电话：91-832-564-5858；房价：175美元起；在海边28英亩范围内分布著众多豪华度假小屋及相关设施。
餐饮：Le Poisson Rouge，位于Baga海滩；电话：91-832-394-5800；一位诺曼底大厨勇于尝试法式餐饮和当地风味的融合创新。
拉贾斯坦邦(Rajasthan)
在拉贾斯坦邦最著名的旅游城市之一、乌代布尔，拥有28个房间、每晚70美元的Garden酒店自然不是拉贾斯坦邦最吸引外国游客的豪华宫殿型酒店之一。虽然Garden酒店干净、舒适而且安静，但与不远处富丽堂皇的Lake Palace一比就相形见绌了。Lake Palace曾是历代乌代布尔王公的宫殿，房价从每晚525美元到2,200美元不等（而且这还不包括早餐）。
但现在的邦主（类似王公的统治者头衔）已经不再享有半个世纪前的政治特权，他成了一位精明的商人。他掌管著由8家豪华酒店组成的帝国，去年10月份刚刚把低端的Garden Hotel纳为第9家，并装修一新。虽然刚刚开业不久，还没来得及登上任何一本旅游指南，这个旺季Garden Hotel也已经早早客满了。“这个价钱在乌代布尔可不好找，”Garden Hotel的经理兰吉特?辛格(Ranjeet Singh)说。
从乌代布尔令人叹为观止的水景，到斋浦尔五色眩目的欢腾，吸引著各地游客不惜长途跋涉来到拉贾斯坦邦。但是，拉贾斯坦邦却找不到地方安置他们──那些居住在宫殿里的富豪和不在意简陋旅馆的背包客除外。“三年来，我们接待的游客人数增长了两倍，2005年达到120万人次，”拉贾斯坦邦的旅游部门主管维诺德?扎奇(Vinod Zutschi)说，“但是，以后游客人数的增长可能要取决于我们能提供的客房数量了。”目前，在政府评级中至少能得到1颗星的酒店客房是5,000间。“我们立刻就需要增加10,000间，未来三年估计还需要增加10,000间，”扎奇说。
酒店客房不足恐怕是印度为迎接游客新浪潮而升级基础设施中最难以克服的困难了。在印度，农业和林业用地受到严格保护，而在城市，动迁即使遇到有一个住户反对、就限时搬迁通知在法庭提起诉讼，拆迁就不得不推后好几年。酒店客房不足这个问题已开始对游客的旅行预算造成了影响：我打电话去预订房间的几家酒店给出的房价已经是《Lonely Planet印度旅游指南》2005年9月份新版上报价的两倍了。
优点：拉贾斯坦邦首府斋浦尔可以领略到多姿多彩的旧城风貌，也是游览整个拉贾斯坦邦的好基地。
缺点：200万游客意味著令人生厌的城市气息时时干扰著你在历史遗迹前的遐思。
酒店：Devi Gahr，位于Rajsamand Tehsil Nathdwara的Village Delwara；电话：91-29-5328-9211；房价：150美元起；乌代布尔城外一处令人赞叹的修复后宫廷式酒店。
餐饮：Niros，位于斋浦尔Mirza Ismail路；电话：91-141-237-4493；高档的拉加斯坦风味。
加尔各答(Kolkata)
作为在三座印度城市以及纽约、伦敦和芝加哥都有办事处的电脑软件公司Skytech Pvt. Ltd.的主管，乔杜里(D.K. Chaudhuri)并不一定非得把总部设在加尔各答。毕竟，加尔各答曾以特雷萨嬷嬷(Mother Teresa)和极度贫困而出名，而且目前治理西孟加拉邦（加尔各答所在邦）的是一个马克思主义政党。
那么，为什么选在加尔各答呢？“很多年来那里都很糟糕，”乔杜里说，“但从2002年开始一切都开始改变了。不管怎么说，当地政府非常务实，这是我见过最主动的政府。不管他们嘴上怎么说，行动起来就像是资本主义者。”
加尔各答引人注目的转变是印度的成功典范之一。这个城市将吸引那些富于冒险精神、想亲眼目睹新旧印度巨大对比的游客到此一游，同时领略印度最富有活力的文化生活，文学、舞蹈、现代艺术和音乐济济一堂。市中心的建筑很脏，古老的巴士和出租车严重污染了空气，满是尘土的人行道睡满了数千名无家可归者。但只要驱车半小时，到了清洁干净的Salt Lake区，眼前就是另一个世界了。宽阔、浓密的林荫大道掩映下，现代建筑群落若隐若现，成百家信息技术公司落户于此。
“我们随时随地都准备铺好红地毯，迎接国内外的公司，”西孟加拉邦的工商业部门主管尼伦潘?森(Nirupam Sen)说，“在加尔各答，兴建基础设施时我们都著眼于未来的发展。”
优点：有机会同时领略旧印度（从英殖民时代的建筑和露天市场拥挤的人流）和新印度的风情（隐隐可见的高科技区）。
缺点：空气污染严重。
酒店：Park Hotel，位于Park街17号；电话：91-33-2249-9000；房价：200美元起；现代、时尚。
餐饮：Aaheli, 位于12 Chowringhee街的Peerless Inn旅馆；电话：91-33-2228-0301；孟加拉风味的食品，淡水鱼是两大特色。
