roadrash99
Disciple
Recently I've got into the fantasy of sailing around the world in a boat (I know, I know it's not happening). Watching a lot of videos about sailing and which boat to buy and all that. Made me curious why we don't have recreational boating culture in India especially in the Southern states that have both relative affluence and a naval history. Check out this website https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:56.4/centery:-3.9/zoom:2 and put a filter on ship type -> Pleasure craft. There are pretty much none in India and the few that do exist are tour boats. Here are some of the possible reasons that came to my mind.
1. Only the Westerners were into the naval and pirating stuff, but Indians do have a naval history, especially Bengal region and the South were known for their ships, and of course the Chola empire. Even today Indians form a huge chunk of seamen in the commercial shipping industry.
2. We don't have the weather or the natural beauty to make this possible, but I don't see how you can't make a nice holiday out of sailing from Kerala backwaters to Lakshdweep or Andamans. Internationally the popular sailing destinations are the Bahamas, Tahiti, Hawaii, etc.
3. Rich people naturally want to get away from the poor, so rich people in the west get a boat, but rich people in India simply go to the West. That is their ultimate fantasy and so they don't think about sailing to the Andamans. This sounds like the most plausible to me but it's obviously a more complex issue.
Anyway I was surprised to find that it's a relatively obtainable dream for upper-middle class people in the US, it costs about the same as buying a high end supercar, which increasingly large number of people have even in India. What do you guys think, can we expect to see this in India as our prosperity grows. How is this scene in other traditional societies like Singapore etc?
1. Only the Westerners were into the naval and pirating stuff, but Indians do have a naval history, especially Bengal region and the South were known for their ships, and of course the Chola empire. Even today Indians form a huge chunk of seamen in the commercial shipping industry.
2. We don't have the weather or the natural beauty to make this possible, but I don't see how you can't make a nice holiday out of sailing from Kerala backwaters to Lakshdweep or Andamans. Internationally the popular sailing destinations are the Bahamas, Tahiti, Hawaii, etc.
3. Rich people naturally want to get away from the poor, so rich people in the west get a boat, but rich people in India simply go to the West. That is their ultimate fantasy and so they don't think about sailing to the Andamans. This sounds like the most plausible to me but it's obviously a more complex issue.
Anyway I was surprised to find that it's a relatively obtainable dream for upper-middle class people in the US, it costs about the same as buying a high end supercar, which increasingly large number of people have even in India. What do you guys think, can we expect to see this in India as our prosperity grows. How is this scene in other traditional societies like Singapore etc?