Guwahati: Instances of tourists disrespecting local sentiments have been widely observed. A recent example of this was shared by a Facebook user, which talks about a tourist allegedly urinating near Cross Hill, a pilgrimage spot in Pedong town of Kalimpong district in West Bengal.
The Facebook user, Roshni Rai, wrote, “Cross Hill in Pedong is not only a View Point but its a holy place. Today, when I was running in front of Cross Hill, this Bengali Tourist stopped his car in front of the Cross and he was urinating. Is he a human being? We the locals of Pedong can not tolerate such disrespect to our holy place. I lost all my temper [sic].”
Upon seeing the tourist take a leak near the holy place, Rai confronted the tourists who denied any such thing. However, the driver of the car frantically apologised to Rai.
Venting out, Rai wrote, “Hope other Bengali Tourists visiting the hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong learn to respect the local holy places, which they visit as view points, after seeing this video. We respect most of the view points as our Devi Dewrali.”
Responding to the post, several social media users agreed to Rai’s response. Meanwhile, they also pointed out that the driver, who is a local, should have stopped the tourist from urinating at the spot.
Cross Hill houses a holy cross which was erected by French missionary Father Augustine Desgodins while on his way to Tibet through Nathu la Pass to preach Christianity.
