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India launches a new kind of tourism with 'ghost walks'

India is trying to give a new impetus to its domestic tourism, trying to offer tourists as many alternatives as possible to convince them to stay for a longer period of time within the country. For this very reason, the tourism bureau is moving in the direction of ghost walks, i.e. organised excursions to haunted, ghostly sites or places where violent crimes have been committed.

The initiative started with the walk to Malcha Mahal in Chanakyapuri, where a woman committed suicide by ingesting diamond fragments in 1993. The delay in the funeral services, it is said, caused the woman's spirit to start haunting the place where she had lived since 1985 with her children.

This is just one of the destinations that the Indian tourist office plans to offer in the coming period.

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India launches a new kind of tourism with 'ghost walks'
India is trying to give a new impetus to its domestic tourism, trying to offer tourists as many alternatives as possible to convince them to stay for a longer period of time within the country. To this end, the tourism bureau is moving in the direction of spectral walks, i.e. organised excursions to haunted, ghostly sites or places where violent crimes have been committed. The initiative started with the walk to Malcha Mahal in Chanakyapuri.
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What happened to Malcha Mahal
According to local legends, Begum Wilayat Mahal, a self-proclaimed descendant of the royal family of Awadh, lived in this house in the 14th century. According to information available on various websites, Begum Wilayat moved into the mahal in 1985 with his children, Ali 'Cyrus' Raza and Sakina. The trio claimed to be direct descendants of Wajid Ali Shah, the last king of Awadh, although many disputed this. The woman allegedly took her own life by ingesting diamond fragments, back in 1993.
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The haunted house
The story goes that, after the woman committed suicide, her children tried to embalm her themselves, with evidently unsatisfactory results, so much so that the body would not be cremated until a year later. This delay in the funeral services, which are very important in Indian culture, made the locals think that the house was therefore haunted by the woman's spirit.
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Malcha Mahal is only the first spectral destination
According to officials of the Indian Department of Tourism, there are plans to introduce even more walks to equally spooky places, such as Bhooli Bhatiyari ka Mahal, Feroze Shah Kotla and Tughlaqabad Fort, which abound in eerie legends. Through these walks, Delhi Tourism (and all of India in general) aims to promote the wonders of the city: its heritage, arts and crafts, cuisine and culture.
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The revitalization of tourism in New Dheli
Atul Anand Pandey, chief information officer of Delhi Tourism, says the aim of these initiatives is to prolong visitors' stay in Delhi by offering them different options, such as bus tours and unique, curated walks. "This will help promote the city's rich history and cultural heritage, besides generating income and employment," he added, reported by The Times of India.
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