Prime Minister Narendra Modi fans who failed to buy his famous fin strip suit or visit the temporary Modi Temple, now have an easier way to show their love for the popular premier: a bus tour through his home town. This month a travel agency in the western state of Gujarat will start a daily tour to Vadnagar where Mr. Modi was born in 1950. The one-day tour which is called “A Rise from Modi's village,” leaves from Ahmedabad and makes the 62-mile trip to the tiny town. It has been happening once a week since January but has become so popular that the tour company that started it, Akshar Travels, has decided to make it a daily tour from April 20. “Non-resident Indians like this tour quite a bit but our summer target is more tourists from India,” said Manish Sharma, managing director at Akshar travels. Since January, more than 10,000 travelers have taken the weekly tour, Mr. Sharma said. There is not much to see in the town so Mr. Sharma said he spent a lot of time interviewing residents to get interesting stories and spots to share with Modi groupies. The tour has stops as the house where Mr. Modi was born, his primary school and the high school where he was in the drama club. It also includes a chance to sit down and chat with some of Mr. Modi’s old classmates. It ends at the dusty train station where Mr. Modi used to help his father sell tea. “It is the most unforgettable place,” said Mr. Sharma. For a taste of the history of Mr. Modi’s spiritual per suits there is a visit to the 17th-century Hindu temple where he played the drums as part of the temple group which performed at rituals and festivals. There is a stop at the Sharmishtha lake where legend has it. Mr. Sharma stumbled on a different story about the prime minister and the big reptiles. “When Modi was a little boy, he saved a crocodile,” he said. “We visit that lake.” The bus tour takes all day and only costs 600 rupees ($9). It includes a bottle of water and a free lunch, vegetarian of course.
