i spent a two week vacation in india recently. after arriving in mumbai i traveled south in maharastra state to visit a friend in a predominantly muslim region. i got a lot of insights from him and visited places mostly omited by western tourists in their india itinerary. the landscape is outstanding there. there are also a few empty beaches but it lacks an infrastructure to attract foreigners so far. it looks like this is gonna be changed soon. i imagine the mostly rural area to be developed quickly. the short distance to mumbai and the wealth there aids this development.
i then continued the journey passing mahabaleshwar to goa. after the rainy season all goa was gearing up to the high tourist season. there was construction everywhere. of course, goa is very different from the rest of india due to its history and the constant tourists arrival. communication can be difficult in many parts of india but in goa it is no problem. i believe every single rikshaw driver speaks a decent english (or was i just lucky …).
then i was back to mumbai where i found this sign outsight the biggest shopping mall. then you start to realize in what kind of a world we live in: