Visit India: The UN-Official Guide

India Country Guide

India is a mystical land that presents the traveller with a bamboozling array of unforgettable experiences. Hinduism, the prominent religion, is intimately woven into the fabric of everyday life, reflected in an extraordinary range of time-honoured traditions. Apart from its ancient spiritual framework, India’s vastness also challenges the imagination, being home to one sixth of the world’s population.

Its intoxicatingly rich history can be traced back to at least 2500BC when the first known civilisation settled along the Indus River. There was an influx of Mughals in the 1520s from Central Asia, who maintained effective control of the north until the mid-18th century. At the end of that century, as the Mughal Empire declined, the British took control of the whole subcontinent, and India was administered by a single alien power.

The Indian National Congress was formed in 1885, but made little progress on independence until Mahatma Gandhi began the policy of non-violent non-cooperation with the British. But the Congress itself was later split on the issue of Hindus and Muslims. The Muslims, under Mohammad Ali Jinnah, claimed a separate homeland and in August 1947 the independent states of India and Pakistan came into being. Since this time, India has been a democratic republic.

Such a rich history has spawned an incredible number of exquisite palaces, temples and monuments. The most frequently visited part of India is the Golden Triangle, comprised of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Meanwhile, the people-packed cities of Mumbai (Bombay) and Kolkata (Calcutta) have a bustling, colourful charm, while the holy city of Varanasi and the awe-inspiring temples of Tamil Nadu are rewarding places of pilgrimage. For those in search of tropical bliss, there are the palm-fringed beaches of Goa and Kerala. And for fresh air and serenity, India ripples with pristine mountains and hills, from the towering beauty of the mighty Himalayas to a bevy of beautiful pine forests, orchards and babbling streams.

One of the greatest fascinations of India is the startling juxtaposition of old and new; centuries of history rubbing shoulders with the trappings of modern-day living, from slick Internet cafes and fancy fast-food eateries, to swanky bars and chichi boutiques.

“Unity in Diversity” was the slogan chosen when India celebrated fifty years of Independence in 1997, a declaration replete with as much optimism as pride. Stretching from the frozen barrier of the Himalayas to the tropical greenery of Kerala, and from the sacred Ganges to the sands of the Thar desert, the country’s boundaries encompass incomparable variety. Walk the streets of any Indian city and you’ll rub shoulders with representatives of several of the world’s great faiths, a multitude of castes and outcastes, fair-skinned, turbanned Punjabis and dark-skinned Tamils. You’ll also encounter temple rituals that have been performed since the time of the Egyptian Pharaohs, onion-domed mosques erected centuries before the Taj Mahal was ever dreamt of, and quirky echoes of the British Raj on virtually every corner.

That so much of India’s past remains discernible today is all the more astonishing given the pace of change since Independence in 1947. Spurred by the free-market reforms of the early 1990s, the economic revolution started by Rajiv Gandhi has transformed the country with new consumer goods, technologies and ways of life. Today the land where the Buddha lived and taught, and whose religious festivals are as old as the rivers that sustain them, is the second-largest producer of computer software in the world, with its own satellites and nuclear weapons.

However, the presence in even the most far-flung market towns of Internet cafés and Japanese hatchbacks has thrown into sharp relief the problems that have bedevilled the subcontinent since long before it became the world’s largest secular democracy. Poverty remains a harsh fact of life for around forty percent of India’s inhabitants; no other nation on earth has slum settlements on the scale of those in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata (Calcutta), nor so many malnourished children, uneducated women and homes without access to clean water and waste disposal.
Many first-time visitors find themselves unable to see past such glaring disparities. Others come expecting a timeless ascetic wonderland and are surprised to encounter one of the most materialistic societies on the planet. Still more find themselves intimidated by what may seem, initially, an incomprehensible and bewildering continent. But for all its jarring juxtapositions, intractable paradoxes and frustrations, India remains an utterly compelling destination. Intricate and worn, its distinctive patina – the stream of life in its crowded bazaars, the ubiquitous filmi music, the pungent melange of beedi smoke, cooking spices, dust and cow dung – casts a spell that few forget from the moment they step off a plane. Love it or hate it – and most travellers oscillate between the two – India will shift the way you see the world.

Fact file
The Republic of India, whose capital is New Delhi, borders China, Nepal and Bhutan to the north, Bangladesh and Myanmar (formerly Burma) to the east and Pakistan to the west.
The world’s seventh-largest country, covering more than 3 million square kilometres, it is second only to China in terms of population, which stands at over 1.1 billion. Hindus comprise 82 percent of the population, Muslims 12 percent, and there are millions of Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains. Eighteen major languages and more than 1000 minor languages and dialects are spoken; Hindi is the language of forty percent of the population, but English is widely spoken.

The caste system is all-pervasive and, although integral to Hindu belief, it also encompasses non-Hindus. A system of social hierarchy that holds especial sway in rural areas, it may dictate where a person lives and what their occupation is.

Literacy extends to 76 percent of males and 54 percent of females: 65 percent of the total population.

India Key Facts

Location
South Asia.
Time
GMT + 5.5.
Area
3,166,414 sq km (1,222,582 sq miles).
Population
1.1 billion (estimate 2007).
Population Density
347 per sq km.
Capital
New Delhi. Population: 16.6 million (estimate 2007).

Geography
India shares borders to the northwest with Pakistan, to the north with China, Nepal and Bhutan, and to the east with Bangladesh and Myanmar. To the west lies the Arabian Sea, to the east the Bay of Bengal and to the south the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka lies off the southeast coast, and the Maldives off the southwest coast. The far northeastern states and territories are all but separated from the rest of India by Bangladesh as it extends northwards from the Bay of Bengal towards Bhutan. The Himalayan mountain range to the north and the Indus River (west) and Ganges River (east) form a physical barrier between India and the rest of Asia.
Government
Republic since 1947.
Head of State
President Pratibha Patil since July 2007.
Head of Government
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh since 2004.
Recent History
Pratibha Patil became India’s first female president in July 2007 and her supporters hailed her election as a victory for women. She succeeds APJ Abdul Kalam, an esteemed scientist and the architect of the country’s missile programme. Patil, of the ruling Congress Party, was previously the governor of Rajasthan.

India has seen several women in powerful positions – most notably Indira Gandhi, one of the world’s first female prime ministers in 1966 – but activists say that women still face widespread discrimination both within and beyond the political arena.

Indian foreign policy continues to be dominated by relations with Pakistan. The main cause of friction is the status of Kashmir, a disputed territory straddling both nations. Historically, the USA and China had backed Pakistan while India had close relations with the Soviet Union. The demise of the Soviet Union has not, however, damaged India. China has long viewed India as a rival, however relations between these two emerging economic powers have been steadily improving over recent years.

Language
The main language is Hindi which is spoken by about 40% of the population; English is also enshrined in the constitution for a wide range of official purposes. In addition, 17 regional languages are recognised by the constitution. These include Bengali, Gujarati, Oriya and Punjabi, which are widely used in the north, and Tamil and Telugu, which are common in the south. Other regional languages include Kannada, Malayalam and Marathi. The Muslim population largely speaks Urdu.

Religion
About 82% Hindu, 12% Muslim, with Sikh, Christian, Jain, Parsi and Buddhist minorities.
Electricity
230-240 volts AC, 50Hz. Some areas have a DC supply. Plugs used are of the round two- and three-pin type.

Social Conventions
The traditional Hindu greeting is to fold the hands and tilt the head forward to namaste. Indian women generally prefer not to shake hands. All visitors are asked to remove footwear when entering places of religious worship. Most Indians also remove their footwear when entering their homes; visitors should follow suit. Many Hindus are vegetarian and many, especially women, do not drink alcohol. Most Sikhs and Parsis do not smoke. When visiting a private home, gifts, such as flowers and sweets, are a polite display of gratitude for hospitality. Women are expected to dress modestly and men should also dress respectfully. Women should not wear short skirts and tight or revealing clothing, although there is a more casual approach to clothing in Goa. Businesspeople are usually expected to dress formally for meetings and social functions.

English-speaking guides are available at fixed charges at most official tourist centres. Guides speaking French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian or Spanish are available in some cities, especially the more touristic ones. Consult the nearest India Tourism office. Tourists are advised to ask for guides with certificates from the Ministry of Tourism or India Tourism (see Contact Addresses).

Photography: Formalities mainly concern protected monuments, places of worship and military sites. Photography at many places is allowed on payment of a prescribed fee, which varies. Photography may be prohibited at some border crossings, airports and train stations.

India Top Things To Do

• Listen to the evocative instruments of Indian music, such as the sitar, sarod and the subtle rhythm of the tabla. Note the variety of dance forms, each with its own costumes and elaborate language of gestures.

• Experience India’s majestic deserts. Jaisalmer, in Rajasthan, holds the Desert Festival in January/February each year. Pushkar in October/November hosts the fascinating Camel Fair.

• Play golf on the highest golf course in the world, at Gulmarg. From here there are good views of Nanga Parbat, one of the highest mountains on earth. In winter, Gulmarg is transformed into a lively ski resort (website: www.skihimalaya.com).

• Party in Goa. Although much less mellow than in the heady days of the 1960s, there are still some fabulous full moon parties in places such as Anjuna.

• Whilst in Goa, attend the spectacular Carnival, held on the three days leading up to Ash Wednesday. This colourful festival is jam-packed with bustling fun, as crowds throng to watch the lavish floats pass by, and dance to music that continually rents the air.

• Snorkel in the Andaman Islands, in the Bay of Bengal, a lushly forested archipelago that has exotic plant life and a wide variety of corals and tropical fish.

• Take the ‘Toy Train’ to Darjeeling through fragrant tea gardens and pine forest. Darjeeling commands fine views of Khangchendzonga (Kanchenjunga) (8,586m/28,169ft), the third-highest mountain in the world. Sherpa Tenzing Norgay lived here and, appropriately, it is home to the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and is also a world-renowned tea-growing centre.

• Take part in the Durga Puja (September/October) in Kolkata (Calcutta). One of the biggest Hindu religious festivals in India, it is full of colour and noise, held in honour of the goddess Durga.

• Go mountaineering, or trekking. It is especially pristine in Sikkim. Shimla, in Himachal Pradesh, is the base for treks into the beautiful Kullu Valley, while Kodaikanal is a popular base for treks in Tamil Nadu.

• Cruise along the tropical backwaters of Kerala, pausing en route to visit sleepy villages and assorted touristic sites.

India Top Things To See

• Encounter the two sides of Delhi: New Delhi is a modern city, offering Lutyens’ architecture; ‘Old’ Delhi is several centuries old, with narrow, winding streets, ancient shrines and rambunctious bazaars. See the Red Fort, the nearby Jama Masjid (India’s largest mosque) and the Qutab Minar’s soaring tower.

• Gaze at the sacred River Ganges. Along its bank is the wondrous city of Varanasi, one of India’s holiest Hindu locations with its ghats which, at dawn, are thronged with pilgrims and holy men performing ritual ablutions and prayers.

• Discover the ‘Golden Triangle’. Delhi is its centre. In the southeast lies Agra, and its iconic Taj Mahal. To the southwest, in Rajasthan, is Jaipur, the vibrant ‘Pink City’. Visit the Amber Fort and the Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Winds). To the southeast of the triangle lies Khajuraho with its famous erotic friezes.

• Visit the most romantic city in Rajasthan, Udaipur, built around the lovely Lake Pichola and famed for its breathtaking Lake Palace Hotel, and dubbed the ‘Venice of the East’.

• Enjoy the cool Hill Stations as a retreat from the heat of the plains. Some of the most renowned hill stations include Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Darjeeling (West Bengal), Ooty (Tamil Nadu) and Kodaikanal (Tamil Nadu).

• Wonder at Kashmir’s flower-spangled meadows, icy mountain peaks and clear rivers. Jammu is the railhead for Srinagar, the ancient Mughal capital. Lake Dal has houseboats where visitors can live surrounded by scenery so beautiful it is known as ‘paradise on earth’.

• Escape Indian stereotypes in Mumbai (Bombay), the capital of Maharashtra, a bustling port and the country’s commercial hub, with plate-glass skyscrapers and modern industry jostling alongside ramshackle bazaars and a hectic street life. The city is also the home of the prolific film industry. Welcome to ‘Bollywood’!

• Enjoy India’s beaches. Mumbai (Bombay) has Juhu and Chowpatty, while Goa offers some of the nation’s most sublime beaches and resorts. Marina Beach in Chennai (Madras) is the second largest in the world. The lush state of Kerala includes the famous beach at Kovalam.

• Observe stunning rock-cut temples, such as the Buddhist cave temples at Ajanta, which date back at least 2,000 years. The caves at Ellora depict religious stories and are Hindu, Buddhist and Jain in origin.

• Go east to Kolkata (Calcutta), capital of West Bengal and India’s second most populous city (after Mumbai/Bombay), with its impressive colonial buildings. It is a major business centre with many markets and bazaars. Central Kolkata contains the Maidan, the central parkland.

• Orissa state is famous for temples. Bhubaneswar has some particularly notable temples, including the Lingaraj Temple. The city of Puri, a holy Hindu place of pilgrimage, stages Rath Yatra in June/July, where icons of gods are drawn on massive chariots. Konarak is known for its striking ‘Sun Temple ‘.

• Check out the wildlife in over 93 national parks, 486 wildlife sanctuaries and 14 biosphere reserves. The Indian tiger and the Asiatic elephant are still found in certain regions. Among the best known reserves are Keoladeo Ghana National Park (Rajasthan), Ranthambore National Park (Rajasthan), Kanha National Park (Madhya Pradesh), Corbett Tiger Reserve (Uttarakhand) and Sunderbans Tiger Reserve (West Bengal).

Delhi

On first impressions, DELHI, with its jam-packed streets, tower blocks and temples, forts, mosques and colonial mansions, can be both disorienting and fascinating. It certainly takes a while to find your feet, as you attempt to weave a path through buses, trucks, nippy cars, mopeds, rickshaws, cows, bullock carts, hand-pulled trolleys and even the occasional elephant being ridden along with the flow of traffic. You’ll find unlikely juxtapositions are everywhere you look: suit-and-tie businessmen rub shoulders with traditionally dressed orthodox Hindus and Muslims; groups of young Delhi-wallahs pile into glitzy bars and discos while turbaned snake charmers tease hypnotizing moans out of curved pipes; pundits pontificate while sadhus smoke their chillums; and ragged beggars clutching dusty children plead for a little help towards a meal.

Delhi’s daunting scale becomes more manageable as you start to appreciate that, geographically as well as historically, it consists of seven successive cities, with British-built New Delhi making an eighth. Home to a crore of people (ten million, that is), it’s big and, due partly to a tremendous economic boom, it’s growing, but tucked away inside its modern suburbs and developments you’ll stumble across tombs, temples and ruins that date back centuries; in some cases, the remains of whole cities from the distant past sit happily amid homes and highways built in the last decade or two, if that. The result is a city full of fascinating nooks and crannies that you could happily spend weeks or even months exploring.

From a tourist’s point of view, Delhi divides into two main parts. Old Delhi is the city of the Moghuls, created by Shah Jahan and dating back to the seventeenth century. It’s the capital’s most frenetic quarter, and its most Islamic, a reminder that for more than seven hundred years Delhi was a Muslim city, ruled by Muslim sultans, with a mixed but predominantly Muslim population. While many of the buildings that enclose Old Delhi’s teeming bazaars have a tale to tell, its greatest monuments are undoubtedly the magnificent constructions of the Moghuls, most especially the mighty Red Fort, and the Jama Masjid, India’s largest and most impressive mosque.
To the south, encompassing the modern city centre, is New Delhi, built by the British to be the capital of their empire’s key possession. A city of tree-lined boulevards, New Delhi is also impressive in its way. The Janpath, stretching from India Gate to the Presidential Palace is at least as mighty a statement of imperial might as the Red Fort, and it’s among the broad avenues of New Delhi that you’ll find most of the city’s museums, not to mention its prime shopping area, centred around the colonnaded facades of Connaught Place, the heart of downtown. Here, the population is predominantly Hindu, not only because Hindus formed the majority in New Delhi under the British, but also because, following Independence, the city received a massive influx of Hindu (and also Sikh) refugees from East Bengal and Pakistani Punjab. Most of the businesses in Delhi’s modern centre are run by descendants of those displaced Punjabis.

As the city expands, however – which it is doing at quite a pace – the centre of New Delhi is becoming too small to house the shops, clubs, bars and restaurants needed to cater to the city’s affluent and growing middle class. Many businesses are moving into south Delhi, the vast area beyond the colonial city. Here, among the modern developments, and new business and shopping areas, is where you’ll find some of Delhi’s most ancient and fascinating attractions. Facing each other at either end of Lodi Road, for example, lie the constructions marking two ends of the great tradition of Moghul garden tombs: Humayun’s Tomb, its genesis, and Safdarjung’s Tomb, its last gasp. Here too, you’ll find the remains of six cities which preceded Old Delhi, most notably the Qutb Minar and the rambling ruins of Tughluqabad.

As a place to hit India for the first time, Delhi isn’t a bad choice. The city is used to foreigners: hotels in all price ranges cater specifically for foreign tourists, and you’ll meet plenty of experienced fellow travellers who can give you tips and pointers. And there’s certainly no shortage of things to see and do while you acclimatize yourself to the subcontinent. Quite apart from its historical treasures, as befits a national capital, Delhi, with its many museums and art treasures, cultural performances and crafts, provides a showcase of the country’s diverse heritage. Shops trade in goods from every corner of India, and with a little legwork you can find anything from Tibetan carpets, antiques and jewellery to modern art and designer clothes. With plenty of spending money and a new sense of confidence among the wealthier classes, the city boasts a great nightlife scene, with designer bars, chic cafés and good clubs. Its auditoria host a wide range of national music and dance events, drawing on the richness of India’s great classical traditions. Smart new cinemas show innumerable Bollywood and Hollywood movies, while theatres hold performances in both Hindi and English.

Highlights:

Rajpath The centrepiece of Lutyens’s imperial New Delhi, this wide boulevard epitomizes the spirit of the British Raj.

Paharganj Bazaars Frenetic market and hotel district opposite New Delhi railway station.

National Museum The country’s finest museum, with exhibits from over 5000 years of Indian culture.

Red Fort Delhi’s most famous monument, this imposing sandstone fort is a ghostly vestige of Moghul splendour.

Jama Masjid Shah Jahan’s great mosque, with huge minarets offering birds’ eye views over the old city.

Hazrat Nizamuddin A Sufi shrine in a deeply traditional Muslim quarter, where hypnotic qawwali music is performed every Thursday.

Humayun’s Tomb An elegant red-brick forerunner of the Taj Mahal, whose lovely gardens offer an escape from the heat.

Qutb Minar The ruins of this twelfth-century city are dominated by the Qutb Minar or Victory Tower.

Mumbai

Ever since the opening of the Suez Canal in the 1869, the principal gateway to the Indian subcontinent has been MUMBAI (Bombay), the city Aldous Huxley famously described as “the most appalling … of either hemisphere”. Travellers tend to regard time spent here as a rite of passage to be survived rather than savoured. But as the powerhouse of Indian business, industry and trade, and the source of its most seductive media images, the Maharashtran capital can be a compelling place to kill time. Whether or nor you find the experience enjoyable, however, will depend largely on how well you handle the heat, humidity, hassle, traffic fumes, relentless crowds and appalling poverty of India’s most dynamic, westernized city.

First impressions of Mumbai tend to be dominated by its chronic shortage of space. Crammed onto a narrow spit of land that curls from the swamp-ridden coast into the Arabian Sea, the city has, in less than five hundred years since its “discovery” by the Portuguese, metamorphosed from an aboriginal fishing settlement into a sprawling megalopolis of over sixteen million people. Being swept along broad boulevards by endless streams of commuters, or jostled by coolies and hand-cart pullers in the teeming bazaars, you’ll continually feel as if Mumbai is about to burst at the seams.
The roots of the population problem and attendant poverty lie, paradoxically, in the city’s enduring ability to create wealth. Mumbai alone generates nearly forty percent of India’s GNP, its port handles half the country’s foreign trade, and its movie industry is the biggest in the world. Symbols of prosperity are everywhere: from the phalanx of office blocks clustered on Nariman Point, Maharashtra’s Manhattan, to the expensively dressed teenagers posing in Colaba’s trendiest nightspots.

Mumbai/Bombay
In 1996 Bombay was renamed Mumbai, as part of a wider policy instigated by the ultra-right-wing Shiv Sena Municipality to replace names of any places, roads and features in the city that had connotations of the Raj. Mumbai is the Marathi title of the local deity, the mouthless “Maha-amba-aiee” (Mumba for short), who is believed to have started her life as an obscure aboriginal earth goddess.
The flip side to the success story is the city’s much chronicled poverty. Each day, hundreds of economic refugees pour into Mumbai from the Maharashtran hinterland. Some find jobs and secure accommodation; many more (around a third of the total population) end up living on the already overcrowded streets, or amid the squalor of Asia’s largest slums, reduced to rag-picking and begging from cars at traffic lights.
However, while it would definitely be misleading to downplay its difficulties, Mumbai is far from the ordeal some travellers make it out to be. Once you’ve overcome the major hurdle of finding somewhere to stay, you may begin to enjoy its frenzied pace and crowded, cosmopolitan feel.
Highlights
The Gateway of India The departure-point for the last British troops leaving India, now a favourite spot for an evening stroll.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Museum A fine collection of priceless Indian art, from ancient temple sculpture to Moghul armour, displayed in splendid Raj-era surroundings.

Maidans (parks) Where Mumbai’s citizens escape the hustle and bustle to play cricket, eat lunch and hang out.

CS (“Victoria”) Terminus A fantastically eccentric pile, perhaps the greatest railway station ever built by the British.

The bazaars A labyrinth of packed streets selling everything from gold wedding jewellery to junk left over from the Raj.

Elephanta Island A magnificent rock-cut Shiva temple on an island in Mumbai harbour.

Bollywood blockbusters Check out the latest Hindi mega movie in one of the city centre’s gigantic air-conditioned cinemas

Goa
If one word could be said to encapsulate the essence of GOA, it would have to be the Portuguese sossegarde, meaning “carefree”. The pace of life in this former colonial enclave, midway down India’s southwest coast, has picked up over the past twenty years, but in spite of the increasing chaos of its capital, beach resorts and market towns, Goa has retained the laid-back feel that has traditionally set it apart from the rest of the country. Its 1.4 million inhabitants are unequivocal about the roots of their distinctiveness; while most of the subcontinent was colonized by the stiff-upper-lipped British, Goa’s European overlords were the Portuguese, a people far more inclined to enjoy the good things in life than their Anglo-Saxon counterparts.

Goa was Portugal’s first toe-hold in Asia, and served as the linchpin for a vast trade network for over 450 years. However, when the Lusitanian empire began to founder in the seventeenth century, so too did the fortunes of its capital. Cut off from the rest of India by a wall of mountains and hundreds of miles of un-navigable alluvial plain, it remained resolutely aloof from the wider subcontinent – while India was tearing itself to pieces in the run-up to Independence in 1947, the only machetes being wielded here were cutting coconuts. Not until 1961, after exasperated Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru gave up trying to negotiate with the Portuguese dictator Salazar and sent in the army, was Goa finally absorbed into India.
Those who visited in the late 1960s and 1970s, when the overland travellers’ trail wriggled its way south from Bombay, found a way of life little changed in centuries: Portuguese was still very much the lingua franca of the well-educated elite, and the coastal settlements were mere fishing and coconut cultivation villages. Relieved to have found somewhere inexpensive and culturally undemanding to recover from the travails of Indian travel, the “freaks” got stoned, watched the mesmeric sunsets over the Arabian Sea and partied madly on full-moon nights, giving rise to a holiday culture that soon made Goa synonymous with hedonistic hippies.

Since then, the state has largely shaken off its reputation as a drop-out zone, but hundreds of thousands of visitors still flock here each winter, the vast majority to relax on Goa’s beautiful beaches. Around two dozen stretches of soft white sand indent the region’s coast, from spectacular 25-kilometre sweeps to secluded palm-backed coves. The level of development varies wildly; while some are lined by ritzy Western-style resorts, the most sophisticated structures on others are palm-leaf shacks and old wooden outriggers that are heaved into the sea each afternoon.

Wherever you travel in Goa, vestiges of former Portuguese domination are ubiquitous, creating an ambience that is at once exotic and strangely familiar. This is particularly true of Goan food which, blending the Latin love of meat and fish with India’s predilection for spices, is quite unlike any other regional cuisine in Asia. Equally unique is the prevalence of alcohol. Beer is cheap, and six thousand or more bars around the state are licensed to serve it, along with the more traditional tipple, feni, a rocket-fuel spirit distilled from cashew fruit or coconut sap.

Travelling around the Christian heartland of central Goa, with its whitewashed churches and wayside shrines, it’s all too easy to forget that Hinduism remains the religion of more than two-thirds of the state’s population. Unlike in many parts of the country, however, religious intolerance is rare here, and traditional practices mingle easily with more recently implanted ones. Faced by the threat of merger with neighbouring states, Goans have always put regional cohesion before communal differences at the ballot box. A potent stimulus for regional identity was the campaign through the 1980s to have Konkani, the language spoken by the vast majority of Goans, recognized as an official state language, which it eventually was in 1992. Since then, the immigration issue has come to dominate the political agenda. Considerably more prosperous than neighbouring states, Goa has been deluged over the past couple of decades with economic refugees, stirring up fears that the region’s cultural distinctiveness will disappear. Among the main employers of migrant labour in recent years has been the Konkan Railway, completed in 1997 to form a super-fast land link with Mumbai – another conduit of economic prosperity that has brought lasting changes.

The festivals of Goa
Some of Goa’s festivals are on fixed dates each year; ask at a tourist office for dates of the others. The biggest celebrations take place at Panjim and Margao.
Festa dos Reis (Jan 6). Epiphany celebrations include a procession of young boys decked out as the Three Kings to the Franciscan chapel of Reis Magos, near Panjim on the north bank of the Mandovi, 3km east of Fort Aguada.

Other processions are held at Cansaulim and Chandor.

Carnival (Feb/March). Three days of feni-induced mayhem, centring on Panjim, to mark the run-up to Lent.
Shigmo (Feb/March). The Goan version of Holi is celebrated with big parades and crowds; drum and dance groups compete and huge floats, which threaten to bring down telegraph wires, trundle through the streets.
All Saints (March). On the fifth Monday in Lent, 26 effigies of saints, martyrs, popes, kings, queens and cardinals are paraded around the village of Velha Goa, near Panjim. A fair also takes place.
Igitun Chalne (May). Dhoti-clad devotees of the goddess Lairya enter trances and walk over hot coals at the village of Sirigao, Bichloim.
Sanjuan (June 24). The festival of St John is celebrated all over Goa, but is especially important in the coastal villages of Arambol and Terekol. Youngsters torch straw dummies (representing St John’s baptism, and thus the death of sin), while revellers in striped pants dive into wells after drinking bottles of feni.
International Film Festival of India (late Nov to early Dec). The powers that be haven’t decided whether or not Panjim is to become the permanent venue for this Bollywood bash (see “Goan to the movies”), but it looks more than likely. Hundreds of movies – both foreign and Indian – are shown over a fortnight, on huge beachside screens and in Panjim’s two major venues, the Innox multiplex and Kala Academy. For more, see “Listings”.
Christmas (Dec 24-25). Celebrated everywhere in Goa. Late-night Mass is usually followed by music, dancing and fireworks.
Siolim Zagor (first Sun after Christmas). Processions, dance dramas and satirical songs mark this unusual festival at Siolim, in northern Goa near Chapora, which is ostensibly Christian but celebrated with equal enthusiasm by local Hindus.
Which beach you opt for when you arrive largely depends on what sort of holiday you have in mind. More developed resorts such as Calangute and Baga in the north, and Colva and Benaulim in the south, offer more “walk-in” accommodation and tourist facilities than elsewhere. Even if you’re looking for a less touristy scene, it can be worth heading for these centres first, as finding places to stay in less commercialized corners is often difficult. Anjuna, Vagator, and Chapora, where accommodation is generally more basic and harder to come by, are the beaches to aim for if you’ve come to Goa to party.

However, the bulk of budget travellers taking time out from tours of India end up in Palolem, in the far south, or Arambol, both beyond the increasingly long reach of the charter buses. That said, Palolem, in particular, has become a major resort in its own right, with thousands of long-stay visitors in peak season.
Police, drugs and nudism
While the vast majority of visitors to Goa never encounter any trouble, tourism-related crime is definitely more prevalent here than in other parts of the country. Theft is the most common problem – usually of articles left unattended on the beach. Don’t assume your valuables are safe in a padlocked house or hotel room, either; break-ins, particularly on party nights, are on the increase. The most secure solution is to rent a deposit box at your hotel or guesthouse, or from a private locker shop.

The other eventuality to avoid, at all costs, is getting on the wrong side of the law. Drugs are the most common cause of serious trouble. Many travellers imagine that, because of Goa’s free-and-easy reputation, drug use is legal: it isn’t. Possession of even a small amount of cannabis is a criminal offence, punishable by large fines or prison sentences. If you’re approached by anyone offering you narcotics, whether foreign or Indian, ignore them; and bear in mind that numerous arrests in the past three or four years have followed tip-offs from the dealers themselves, who are paid a cut of the resulting bribe taken by the police as a reward, or have been obliged to inform on their customers in order to operate free from police interference. A couple of seasons ago, several foreigners were also admitted to Panjim hospital with life-threatening conditions resulting from having smoked charas (cannabis resin), bought from Kashmiri dealers, which had been cut with something very nasty.

Though violent crime is rare, women should think twice before wandering down deserted beaches and dark tracks on their own. Sexual harassment usually takes the form of unsubtle ogling, but there have also been several incidents of rape in recent years. So wherever you’re staying, take the same common-sense precautions as you would at home: keep to the main roads when travelling on foot or by bicycle, avoid dirt tracks and unfrequented beaches (particularly on party nights) unless you’re in a group, and when you’re in your hotel or guesthouse after dark, ensure that all windows and doors are locked.

Bikinis and, increasingly, topless bathing are the norm on Westerner-dominated beaches, but expect to attract plenty of attention if you walk around under-dressed in front of Indian visitors from out of state, or in less developed parts of Goa. Such behaviour isn’t likely to cause offence, but will provoke staring and possibly hassle. The best policy for women is to cover up with a sarong or lunghi when you see families or groups of Indian men approaching. Total nudism is never acceptable, and technically illegal.

Some 10km from the state capital, Panjim, the ruins of the former Portuguese capital at Old Goa are foremost among the attractions away from the coast – a sprawl of Catholic cathedrals, convents and churches that draw crowds of Christian pilgrims from all over India. Another popular day excursion is to Anjuna’s Wednesday flea market, a sociable place to shop for souvenirs and dance wear. Further inland, the thickly wooded countryside around Ponda harbours numerous temples, where you can experience Goa’s peculiar brand of Hindu architecture. The district of Salcete, and its main market town, Margao, is also littered with Portuguese mansions, churches and seminaries. Finally, wildlife enthusiasts may be tempted into the interior to visit the nature reserve at Cotigao in the far south.

The best time to come to Goa is during the dry, relatively cool winter months between mid-November and mid-March. At other times, either the sun is too hot for comfort, or the monsoon rains and clouds make life miserable. During peak season, from mid-December to the end of January, the weather is perfect, with temperatures rarely nudging above 32°C. Finding a room or a house to rent at that time, however – particularly over Christmas and New Year when tariffs double, or triple – can be a real hassle.

Highlights
Old Goa The belfries and Baroque church facades looming over the trees on the banks of the Mandovi are all that remains of this once splendid colonial city.

Ingo’s Night Market, Arpora Cooler and less hassly than the Flea market, with better quality goods on sale and heaps more atmosphere.

Flea market, Anjuna Goa’s famous tourist bazaar is the place to pick up the latest party gear, shop for souvenirs, and watch the crowds go by.

Nine Bar, Vagator The epicentre of hip Goa, where trance music accompanies the sunsets over the beach.

Arambol An alternative resort with exquisite beaches and some of Asia’s best budget restaurants.

Perreira-Braganza House, Chandor The region’s most extravagant colonial-era mansion, crammed with period furniture and fittings.

Beach shacks Tuck into a fresh kingfish, tandoori pomfret or lobster, washed down with a feni cocktail or an ice-cool Kingfisher beer. Also see “Accommodation” in “Palolem”.

Sunset stroll, Palolem Tropical sunsets don’t come much more romantic than at this idyllic palm-fringed cove in the hilly deep south.

Kolkata (Calcutta)

Although Kolkata has its fair share of problems, most notably overpopulation and poverty, it also certainly has an abundance of charm deriving from the faded decadence found in many parts of the city, and its plethora of historical, cultural and religious buildings. Peep through the dirt and modern sky-rise blocks – the ornate Raj-era balconies, elegant gardens, cavernous bookshops, graceful churches, packed temples and mammoth monuments are what make Kolkata distinct.

Despite a Kolkata High Court ruling in 2003 that the city of Kolkata had grown over a period of time and that no particular date could be fixed for its birth, history has long suggested the city was founded over 300 years ago on the banks of the Hooghly River by Job Charnock.

A tired administrator in the British East India Company, Charnock took a chance midday halt near the quaint village of Sutanti, the sparkle of green on the horizon offering peace and solitude for a quick nap. In 1690, with his base threatened by the Mughal viceroy in Bengal, he moved his operations here, eventually uniting the villages of Sutanti, Gobindapur and Kalikata to form the city of Calcutta.

It was to become a British trading port that emerged as one of the most prominent in Indian history, a significant commercial centre of the British Raj and busy port for east-bound vessels, and the erstwhile capital of British India.

Today Kolkata remains one of the most prominent cities in India, a city with a soul, a fabled past and a rich artistic tradition. Great wealth and great poverty live side by side; the last of the hand-pulled rickshaws operate on the land above the modern Metro system. Shops with antiques and traditional arts are as busy as high fashion boutiques and contemporary music stores.

The city also enjoys a reputation as the cultural and intellectual capital of India. This was, after all, home to Nobel Prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) and renowned film director Satyajit Ray (1921-1992). And while Mumbai churns out an all-singing all-dancing film every minute, Kolkata prides itself on a more cultural, measured approach to film-making.

Outside the subcontinent, the city is largely known for its poverty-stricken slums and the work of Mother Teresa, an Albanian nun who arrived in India as a missionary in 1929. Between 1948 and 1950, she founded the Missionaries of Charity to work with the poor in Calcutta. Within 10 years, there were missions across India and many of the communist countries. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, she died in 1997, was almost immediately put on the fast track to sainthood, and was beatified in 2003.

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