Age is just a number for 91-year-old tour guide Rama Khandwala, who received the special best tourist guide award from President Ram Nath Kovind at the National Tourism Awards here on Wednesday.
“Her courage and never-say-die attitude are visible even today in her sincere and professional way of handling guide assignments," states the descriptive note on awardees, prepared by the Ministry.
Walking down the memory lane, a vibrant Ms. Khandwala recollected how a woman from Holland was so impressed by the people in the slums in India that she wished to stay there.
Lot to offer
Besides amazing tourist destinations, India has a lot to offer to the tourists -- the Indian culture and the experience, the human touch, the feelings -- which no other country can boast of, Ms. Khandwala said.
Mumbai-based Khandwala, who is fluent in Japanese, said she had also escorted a lot of delegations from that country to far off place in western India but now works as a city guide.
She has also served as a Second Lieutenant in the Rani Jhansi Regiment of the Azad Hind Fauj in Burma, led by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, the Ministry note read.
