Grewal - Exciting India: a Visual Journey

namaste!
welcome to
majestic india!

A traditional South Indian girl holding a thali (plate) of diyas (lamps) - the traditional Indian form of welcome.

India is one of the most richly rewarding regions of the world to visit. Her scenery is varied and exciting, her history and culture are lived experiences, and the openness and friendliness of her people are legendary.

d ERIVING HER NAME from the river Indus, India is a country of subcontinental dimensions. The home of one of the earliest civilizations on earth and several of the world's great religions, India's historical and cultural heritage dates back several centuries. She has changed and reshaped herself through the ages, forever producing new forms of cultures and absorbing new influences. India is, besides, a country of amazing contrasts and diversity, with a physical environment that ranges from thickly populated plains, awe-inspiring mountains and palm-fringed golden beaches, to dense rainforests. India boasts a wonderful mix of tradition and modernity that finds its best expression in the distinctive lifestyles of the people who live across this vast land. The people of India are also her greatest wealth, borne out by the fact that India is the world's largest secular democracy, and home to over 1,000 million people.

The majestic Sivasamudram Falls in Karnataka-a telling reminder of nature's bounty.

Terraced cultivation in the lower reaches of the Himalayas. Dancers rehearsing at Kalakshetra, an academy of classical dance in Chennai. A view of the desert city of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan-the ramparts of Jaisalmer fort can be seen in the background. A streetside shopkeeper displays his wares-bales of colourful wool.

m ARK TWAIN'S DESCRIPTION more than a century ago"the land of dreams and contrasts, of palaces and hovels... of giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, of cobras and the jungle, the country of a hundred nations, of a thousand religions and a million gods,"encapsulates the wondrous variety and bewildering contradictions that are still true of India today. Bustling cities alongside dusty villages where elders sit in council under the shade of the banyan, slums that hover at the fringes of high-rises, camels and cows and wild-haired sadhus these are but some of the elements that make India a fascinating travel destination.

Men sitting around campfires at India's largest cattle fair, in Pushkar, Rajasthan.

A sadhu in ashes meditating at the banks of the Ganges at Benares.

A solitary boatman on the Ganges.

magnificent
ladakh

Ladakh-literally "the land of many passes"-is a magical and remote place, and is variously described as "the Moonland", "Little Tibet" and even "the last Shangri-la". It is one of the world's last enclaves of Mahayana Buddhism, Ladakh's principal religion for nearly a thousand years.

l ADAKH IS A VAST HIGHLAND DESERT lying between the Karakoram and Himalayan ranges in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. In its early history, Ladakh was a feudal kingdom of federated clans ruled from the capital, Leh, by a line of rulers that claimed descent from the kings of Lhasa in Tibet. Present-day Ladakh is divided into two districts, Leh and Kargil. Leh is inhabited predominantly by Buddhists and is therefore a centre of Buddhist culture, although it has a sizeable Muslim population. The Great Himalayan range dominates the western part of Ladakh that borders Himachal Pradesh and the Kashmir valley. The Zanskar valley is part of the western district. Ladakh has some of the world's largest glaciers outside the polar regions, and a huge lake Pangong Tso that is 150 km long and 4 km wide at a height of 4,000 m.

The crocus, from whose stamen saffron is extracted.

Leh Palace, Ladakh.

A thangka, or cloth painting, depicting characters and episodes from the life of the Buddha.

A scenic view of the Tso-Morir lake, set in the high-altitude desert characteristic of the Tibetan plateau.

Masked chaam dancers.

cool hill stations

The hill stations of India, which provide welcome relief from the sweltering heat of the plains, owe their origins to the days of the British Raj.

Mussoorie, at 2,000 m above sea level, is a very popular destination in the north. A famous early resident was Sir George Everest, who gave his name to the world's highest peak.

Naldehra, in the Shimla region, is famous for its nine-hole golf course.

The Mall at Shimla, which used to be the summer capital of the British Raj.