Exotic, extravagant, elegant, eclectic: India offers different aspects of her personality to travellers. Only there can you go on a camel safari in the hot, mesmerising deserts of Rajasthan, heli-ski in the Himalayas, raft down the mighty Ganges and trek in pristine Garhwal Himalayas, all in the same month. There are 89 national parks, 13 bio-reserves and more than 400 wildlife sanctuaries across the country.
North India
Kashmir is a popular holiday destination and Srinagar, the state’s winter capital, is the first stop for most travellers journeying there. Srinagar’s great lake and meandering river, exquisite gardens, shikara boat rides and the old-world charm of its houseboats make the city a fitting introduction to the enchantments of the valley. Dal Lake is Srinagar’s emblematic feature, with the great Mughal Gardens that rest on its shores. Other destinations in Kashmir include Phalgham, a popular tourist town, and Gulmarg, a mountain and ski resort. Kashmiri cuisine has evolved over hundreds of years, reflecting Central Asian, Persian and North Indian plains influences. Its salient ingredient, mutton, is offered up in more than 30 dishes.
South of Kashmir is one of the world’s oldest cities. Delhi offers historical ambience in Old Delhi and modern life in New Delhi, with World Heritage Sites of Red Fort, Humayun’s Tomb and Qutub Minar among its treasures.
A bit further south, Udaipur in Rajasthan is often called the “Venice of the East,” a city of lakes. The Lake Palace (Jag Niwas), in the middle of Pichola Lake, is an architectural and cultural marvel, while the city itself offers performing arts, crafts and its famed miniature paintings.
Northeast India
Assam is a state of scenic beauty, rare flora and fauna, rolling plains and waterways. It is also a land of fairs and festivals. Kaziranga National Park is home to the rare one-horned rhinoceros. Other attractions include Majuli Island, ancient Ahom architectural marvels and golf courses with heritage resorts and colonial tea-garden bungalows.
An Assam cuisine highlight is boiled rice served with Tengamach (sour fish) and Khar (an extract from banana). In the state of Meghalaya, almost next door, rice is a staple combined with spicy meat and fish preparations. You can also try jadoh (boiled rice dough), kikpu, tung-toh (a vegetarian spring-roll filled with water chestnuts, shallots and egg yolk) and pickled bamboo shoots.
Sikkim is not just a beautiful place, but clean and safe as well. With its unique culture and natural landscape, it offers a sense of pristine purity in the Himalayas between Nepal and Bhutan, a paradoxical hotspot of biodiversity and development.
Central India
The Hindu temples of Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh (a huge central state) represent a paean to life, love and joy, perfect in execution and sublime in expression. Life in every form and mood has been captured in stone, testifying to the craft workers’ artistry. These temples were built by the Chandela Rajputs, a clan found in Central India, in a short span of 100 years between 950 and 1050.
Kanha National Park’s forests are home to diverse natural life, including tigers, hardground swamp deer, black bucks, leopards and sloth bear, as well as birds such as storks, teals, pintails, pond herons, egrets, peacock, kingfishers, woodpeckers, finches and orioles. Occupying an area of 940 square kilometres, Kanha (it inspired Kipling’s Jungle Book) is a wildlife enthusiast’s delight.
The cuisine in Madhya Pradesh varies from region to region, but it is all underpinned by wheat, rice, meat and fish. The capital of Bhopal is known for meat and fish dishes such as rogan josh (aromatic lamb dish of Persian origin), korma (India curry made of yogurt, cream, nut and seed pastes or coconut milk), keema (minced meat), biryani pilaf and kabobs.
West India
Mumbai, on the Arabian Sea, is a compact mix of traditional and modern, a waterfront city with a cosmopolitan identity. From the glitz and glamour of Bollywood, the Victorian buildings of the British Raj, the beauty of Juhu Beach or the maze of alleyways and lively streets of the city itself, few places leave tourists with such vivid impressions. A tour of Mumbai is best begun from the Gateway of India, the most famous colonial landmark and the beautiful rock-cut Shiva temple on Elephanta Island — a short trip by launch across the harbour from the gateway.
Goa, on the west coast of India, was formerly a Portuguese colony, and offers palm-lined beaches with golden sand, lush green countryside and a mosaic of cultural heritage. Its churches, temples, forts and monuments are a synthesis of east and west. The capital, Panjim, replete with colonial architecture, is known for its annual Goa Carnival festival.
Seafood, coconut milk and rice are the main ingredients of Goan delicacies and the tree fruit kokum, which tastes salty and sweet, is a distinct feature. Goan cuisine understandably incorporates Portuguese influences alongside dishes such as pork vindaloo, an Indian curry that originated on the west coast. Its name comes from the Portuguese dish carne de vinha d’alhos, which is made from pork, wine and garlic. Another dish from this area is xacuti, which has complex spices, including white poppy seeds, coconut and dry red chillies.
Further south down the Arabian Sea coastline is the state of Maharashtra, (its coastal area is popularly called the Konkan), which boasts its own Konkani cuisine. The interior — the Vidarbha area — also has its own distinctive Varadi cuisine, which is on the spicier side.
East India
Visiting the Andaman and Nicobar Islands means a trip of 1,000 kilometres east across the Bay of Bengal to this Indian archipelago of 362 volcanic islands (only 37 of them inhabited) close to Myanmar and Thailand. Travellers are greeted by a combination of white sandy beaches and swaying palms close to monuments and museums. World-class diving, swimming and sunbathing make this an other-worldly trip. These lush green islands have endured invasions by French, Dutch, Japanese and British newcomers and wars between settlers and the local tribes. The Cellular Jail, where hundreds of Indian revolutionaries were imprisoned during India’s struggle for independence from Britain, still stands.
Back on mainland India, Darjeeling, in the east, is in the somewhat confusingly named state of West Bengal. High up near the Himalayas with Mount Kanchenjunga as a backdrop, Darjeeling is worth a visit. Ancient forests, quaint houses and friendly people make the trip to this most famous hill station of India worth the effort. The Darjeeling mystique rests on its landscape, making it a honeymoon and hiking destination.
Established in 1690 as a trading post near the Bay of Bengal for the English East India Company, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) is the capital of West Bengal and one of the largest cities in India. The city that once served as the capital of British power in India is noteworthy for colonial architecture, including the Victoria Memorial. Other important sights include the Howrah Bridge, an engineering marvel that links the city, Howrah Station and the Indian Museum.
With an emphasis on fish and lentils served with rice, Bengali cuisine is known for subtle flavours, confections, desserts and its use of panchphoran, a five-spice mixture of fenugreek, nigella seed, cumin, radhuni and fennel in equal parts.
South India
Kerala is known by locals as God’s own country. With the Arabian Sea in the west, the Western Ghats mountain range towering at between 500 and 2,700 metres in the east, and networked by 44 rivers, Kerala’s geographical features have made it a popular tourist destination. Its long shoreline has beaches and tranquil stretches of emerald backwaters. Inland, there are lush hill stations, exotic wildlife, sprawling plantations and rice-paddy fields. Visitors come for Ayurvedic (Hindu traditional medicine) health holidays, enchanting art forms, festivals and historic and cultural monuments.
Puducherry (earlier known as Pondicherry), a French colony until 1954, is a small enclave in India that retains a distinctly French and quiet ambience and culture, known for fine cuisine and good hotels. The ashram (religious retreat), founded by philosopher Sri Aurobindo, attracts thousands of people from all over the country and abroad who come to learn yoga and meditate.
Kerala cuisine has a multitude of fish, poultry and meat dishes. And for early in the day, a variety of traditional breakfast dishes such as appam (a pancake made with fermented rice batter and coconut milk), idiyappam (rice flour pressed into noodle form and then steamed), puttu (a traditional breakfast dish of Kerala prepared with rice flour and coconut) and pathiri (a pancake made of rice flour). As for Puducherry, not surprisingly, it offers an innovative French and Indo-style cuisine.
All of these sights, sounds and tastes await the visitor.
Admiral (Ret’d) Nirmal Verma is high commissioner for India.
