A GROUP of Guyanese returned from India last week as part of Kali Travel’s 29th bi-annual Bharat Yatra. The 37-member tour party said they had a magnificent Diwali celebration in Jaipur, and they were entertained throughout the 17 days tour by Guyanese singing sensation Seeta Panday and local artistes within India. In addition, they were entertained by artistes from Bollywood.

Seeta was accompanied by her two daughters Meera and Kajal. The trip was coordinated by India accredited Tour Operator Ramesh Kalicharran, formerly of Essequibo.  Seeta and the group said they had a wonderful experience in India and felt blessed to celebrate Diwali in India and to set foot on Bharatdesh, the holy land of their illustrious ancestors.
The tour was waived off by Guyanese Beauty Queen Annushka Prabhudyal and officials of Air India and the India Tourist Board. The tour party said they had a splendid flight from JFK to Delhi with delicious meals, unlimited snacks and drinks. There were a lot of reading materials and a variety of movies to choose from the individualised TV set. Drinks were unlimited. Check in was efficient for the group. Boarding was well organized with sufficient cabin space. And the crew on board worked tirelessly, professionally servicing passengers. The crew was efficient with their service attending to requests. Although they were friendly, they lacked smiles. The flight was comfortable and group members said they managed to sleep for a few hours when not watching old Bollywood movies or listening to old songs.  The flight left on time and arrived a little early. The Guyanese passengers said they recommend the service to others traveling to India. The group wishes to thank Air India officials for a magnificent service that is a lot better than those offered by several other air carriers.
The India tour centered around singing queen Seeta Panday who has toured several countries performing before large audiences but never visited India. She entertained the group and local villages everywhere.
Seeta sings like Lata, the Indian iconic singer and people were amazed she sang so well even though she is not a Hindi speaker. Seeta has many recordings to her credit with her favourite album being ‘Jhoomay Jhoomay’.
Seeta had an early start to her singing career. At age 9, she was regarded as a singer prodigy. Because of her distinguished singing record the demand for her talent cuts across national boundaries. She performed in Guyana, Canada, England, Holland as well as in almost every State of the United States. And till now, she remains very engaged.
Seeta has had a busy singing schedule for the past 35 years and found it hard to squeeze time to make her maiden trip to India. But she was motivated to undertake this trip to India because she wanted to take her two daughters to the land of her fore-parents. They have completed
school and, as such, she can take them to India now. Seeta said she was encouraged by Ramesh Kalicharran to join his Kali Bharat 2012 Diwali tour.
When asked what she was looking forward to seeing the most in India, Seeta said ‘the Taj Mahal’. She was told that the Taj Mahal has a great love story behind its construction, built by Emperor Shah Jahan as a testament of his love for Mumtaz, his wife.  She visited it with the group. Seeta had also expressed a strong desire to visit the record-visiting studios of Guinness Record holder for the most songs ever sung by an individual, Lata Mangeshkar and her sister Asha Bhosle’s studio. They are her idols with Seeta being regarded as the Caribbean’s Lata
Mangeshkar.  But she was not able to make the visit because of the funeral proceedings of Indian political supremo Bal Thackeray whose funeral was at the same time as her visit to Mumbai.
She also wanted to meet film stars especially Shah Rukh Khan but that visit to the film studio was also cancelled. Seeta and the tour party visited a number of cities and historic sites
in North India.
The tour party said they love the trip. They noted that Seeta added ‘spice’ and variety to the tour with her beautiful singing impressing local Indians everywhere.
Basil and Esther Jagarnath said the trip “proved to be intelligent, knowledgeable and efficient with Kali always helpful.”
The tourists said they admired the cool, fresh, running water of the famous sacred River Ganges. They said the river made them reminisce a lot about growing up in Guyana and hearing stories from elders. The trip was a memory to cherish.