Introduction |
India is a very personal experience, and every traveler's impressions are different but no body returns unaffected or changed. It is an amazing and contradictory place. Though some times chaotic it is a land rich in colour and vitality, where time has stood still for centuries and where the strong culture of the people is far less influenced by western standards than any other country in Asia. What ever you want from a holiday it is here in India. Colourful festivals, royal palaces, desert fortresses, beach resorts, hill stations, temples, flora and fauna, verdant forests, lofty mountains and pristine lakes - you will find them all, and a lot more besides, a history and culture that are not just packaged and brought out on show for the tourists, but lived, and its openness, friendliness and freedom from personal threat make it unique.
India covers an area of 3,287,262 square kilometers. The population of India is over a billion people, majority of whom practice Hinduism though the country is home to almost all major religions of the world.
The densely populated northern plains of the River Ganges, is where the heart of India beats. Great civilizations flourished and perished here. It strategically continues to be the seat of power, and is a Gateway to modern India. To the north of the plains lies the Himalayas, which are by far one of the finest combinations of a natural boundary and a barrier. This eternal silence of a vast snowfield and mighty peaks is some times referred to as a Third Pole. Its western extremity consists of the high altitude deserts of Ladakh, while the eastern foothills of the Himalayas have verdant forests that are drained by the mighty Brahmaputra River. To the west of the Gangetic Plains lies the desert of Rajasthan, replete with forts, palaces and its many hues. To the southwest lies India's commercial hub and the golden palm fringed beaches making it yet another Gateway to India. To the south of the fertile Gangetic Plains is the Indian Peninsula rich in minerals, flanked on either eastern side by the Bay of Bengal and on the western side by the Arabian Sea, and converging into the Indian Ocean at its southern tip.
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