India's hidden tourism potential

This happened yesterday.

After a short post-lunch stroll, I was waiting for the lift to take me to my office located on the 5th floor. As the lift arrived, 4 Japanese guys got on into the lift along with me. They were probably on their way to this Japanese company located on the 6th floor. While I contemplated my upcoming fight against post-lunch stupor, I noticed that the Japanese Quartet were a pretty silent lot - at least until the lift reached the 4th floor.

The lift stopped, the door opened and we peered out into the reception area of the company on that floor. The panoramic view that greeted us consisted of a receptionist, a pot-bellied guy waiting for the lift to come back down and an ATM machine.

Yes, an ATM machine, the same one that spits out money if you feed it your bank card...

The first time I had seen the ATM machine in the reception area of that company, I was so surprised, I thought - "What an awesome company, man! They have installed an ATM for their employees right in their own reception!?"

It was only later that I came to know that this company is actually well-known for providing ATM technology and services - and that the ATM machine was probably an Advertisement prop. I will not directly name the company - suffice it to say that it's name sounds somewhat like the name of some Bond movie or a Bruce Willis action flick.

Anyways, as the door of the lift began to close, the four Japs who had been peering out wide-eyed suddenly started chatting animatedly in Japanese to each other. I was almost sure they were talking about the presence of the ATM machine. But then one of the guys gestured with his hands in front of his stomach and that was when I realized that it was not the ATM machine that had so attracted the attention of our 4 japanese protagonists. Neither was it the secretary. It was the pot-belly of the waiting man...

That's when I realized that India has such a great tourism potential - walking-talking huge-numbered potential tourist attractions!!! We should utilize this potential! Indian Tourism should promote it! Now that's what I call - Incredible India!!