Cruise bengal: Amit Mitra appreciating the Baul music of Ghulam Fakir (left) and Shyam Khapa (in saffron), and (below) Pritha Sarkar with the West Bengal tourism stall staff

Bengal prepares for battle of Berlin

It was a brilliant move on Mamata Banerjee’s part to send Amit Mitra to London to lead the large West Bengal delegation to the World Travel Market (WTM). For once one can feel optimistic that tourism will help create tens of thousands of jobs in West Bengal.

The finance minister, a former Ficci general secretary, is an old hand at making the case for India Inc. but this was his first WTM. To be sure, he is not in charge of tourism, but he told me he was greatly encouraged by his meetings with Greg Barker, David Cameron’s “Minister for India”, and with tour operators.

It has cost the state government £60,000 to send the delegation that included men and women artisans, plus a couple of excellent Baul singers — Shyam Khapa and Ghulam Fakir. The money is well spent because the state will recoup the costs many times over in increased tourism.

At the Berlin tourism fair from March 6-10, West Bengal will have an even bigger presence, promised the finance minister.

On paper, at least, West Bengal can offer everything from the Himalayas to the seas, from heritage walks, music festivals and the cuisine of Calcutta to Darjeeling, tea gardens, forest lodges, the Sunderbans, river cruises, crafts, culture and painting holidays.

“West Bengal has a problem of plenty,” says Pritha Sarkar, West Bengal’s director of tourism.

She is right to add: “It is private tour operators who are going to take it forward — we will facilitate because bureaucrats will move on from one department to another.”

In England, she likes staying in bed and breakfast accommodation. “There could be a bed and breakfast there also (back in West Bengal),” she suggests.

The problem is that millions of potential Western tourists, including gap-year students, are largely unaware of what West Bengal has to offer. I am pleased Pritha has helped me collect a small mountain of literature on West Bengal tourism — everything from Celebrating Tagore to Vivada Cruises’ Journey on the Holy Ganges, Mountains to Mangroves and Walks & Tours in and from Kolkata.

And if any intrepid foreigner wants to negotiate the scenic walk from Duttabagan More to Lake Town via Patipukur bridge, I am happy to act as guide.

BRAKING NEWS: Bond with his Aston Martin

Bond bail out

This is a tale of how steel tycoon Lord Swraj came to the aid of James Bond.

Swraj, whose Caparo group manufactures automotive parts, tells me that one of his companies stepped in when 007’s iconic Aston Martin DB5 developed a brake problem that required immediate diagnosis and repair.

The mission was to get the car to the world premiere of Skyfall in Leicester Square in London.

“Caparo AP Braking was delighted to play a role,” says Swraj. “Early on the morning of October 19, a Friday, Caparo AP Braking had a call from Sprint-Bay Motor Factors in Shaftesbury, Dorset. They had an important customer in desperate need of a pair of servos for an Aston Martin DB5. This wasn’t just any DB5, but the James Bond DB5 that was due to be a centre piece at the red carpet Skyfall premiere in London early the following week.”

Swraj went all technical: “Caparo settled on a Type 6 servo with the optimum boost ratio of 2.30:1 and 5/6 inch slave cylinder bore. Caparo had to track down component parts, change over test rigs and set up an assembly line. Within two hours the team at Caparo had managed to gather together everything. After a further two hours they had two DB5 servo assemblies fully tested, packed and ready to go.”

It was mission accomplished: “Much to everyone’s delight the Aston Martin DB5 did indeed make it to the Skyfall red carpet premiere for the entire world to see. And how proud we all were to know that hidden beneath that gleaming bonnet were two Caparo AP Braking servos that helped make it happen.”

As he says, the name’s Paul — Swraj Paul.

LONDON CUE: KAMAL NATH

Boris beckons

Kamal Nath had a meeting in London last week with Boris Johnson, the high profile mayor of London.

So what did the urbane development minister make of Boris, who arrives in India on November 25?

“He’s got great leadership qualities,” Kamal Nath told the Indian Journalists’ Association.

He was impressed with the way Boris had “overseen” the Olympic Games. “I congratulated him. He has really been a great success as the mayor of London.”

Kamal Nath acknowledged Boris “wants to do things with India”, which is why there would be a round table discussion with the mayor at which various Indian states would be represented.

When someone quipped only West Bengal would absent itself from the round table, Kamal Nath cut in: “There is no harm in West Bengal (being present); we have no problems (with its presence). I don’t look at it politically at all because there is no politics in this.”

Such maturity encouraged one seasoned journalist to describe Kamal Nath as “prime ministerial material”.

Noon’s way

There are few UK Indians more generous than “curry king” Lord Gulam Noon, who is to donate £2,50,000 a year for three years to the University of East London.

Last week, the university, which proudly proclaims it has “28,000 students from 120 countries worldwide”, inaugurated the Noon Centre for Equality and Diversity in Business in its Royal Docks Business School.

Noon explained his business philosophy: “I made up my mind that, yes, I will buy the best car, the best houses, send my children to the best schools, but I will carve out some of my wealth to give back to society. That is the footprint you are going to leave.”

He observed: “When you die no rich man has been able to do business from the graveyard.”

Cannes 2013

PARIS PLANS: Ambassador Rakesh Sood

Bengal should plan to have a big presence in Cannes next May during celebrations to mark 100 years of Indian cinema — the danger otherwise will be to drown everything else with “100 years of Bollywood”.

Rakesh Sood, India’s ambassador in Paris, who was visiting London last week, revealed his wish list for Cannes 2013: “India as the country of honour; you dedicate a day to India; that huge space on the Croisette in front of the Grand Hotel which hopefully they should give to us at a discount. Convert that into a mini India.”

Time was running out. “We should have started planning for this three years ago. We have spoken to the authorities at the Cannes Film Festival (and) the mayor of Cannes. My wish is that decision making people (from Delhi) should land up in Cannes — and do the whole thing as a package.”

Tittle tattle

More later on Malini Roy but I was intrigued last week by her engaging American accent when she introduced a fabulous new exhibition, Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire (Nov. 9, 2012-April 2013), she has curated at the British Library in London.

“I was brought up in America,” explained Malini, who is the British Library’s curator of prints, drawings and photos. “My parents still live there but I have been here (in the UK) for 11 years.”