"So far as I
am able to judge, nothing has been left
undone, either by man or nature, to make
India the most extraordinary country that
the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems
to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked."
--Mark Twain, from Following the Equator
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India
is a land that truly takes ones breath away. Nowhere
on Earth will one come across such an astonishingly
vibrant land, pulsating with a dizzying energy exuded
from the myriad culture and religion, races and tongues
that inhabit it. Every facet of the country - be it
its size, the clamour, the beauty and its people -
may hit one as large, colossal, massive or even exaggerated.
But it is the diversity - of the people, culture,
religion, language, flora and fauna that will never
fail to amaze and confound. Every turn offers a wholly
different insight into the intricacies of nature,
man and life itself. It is no wonder then that most
visitors develop a lasting passion for this land.
India is a litmus test for many travellers - some
are only too happy to leave, while others stay for
a lifetime. The country's glorious diversity means
there's an astonishing array of sacred sites, from
immaculately kept Jain temples to weathered Buddhist
stupas; there's history around every corner, with
countless monuments, battle-scarred forts, abandoned
cities and ancient ruins all having tales to tell;
and there are beaches to satiate the most avid sun
worshipper. On a personal level, however, India is
going to be exactly what you make of it. Perhaps the
only thing more difficult than to be indifferent to
India would be to describe or understand India completely. |
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Location,
Geography, & Climate
Set apart from the rest of Asia by the supreme continental
wall of the Himalayas, the Indian subcontinent touches three
large bodies of water and is immediately recognizable on
any world map. It is the huge, terrestrial beak between
Africa and Indonesia. This thick, roughly triangular peninsula
defines the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Arabian sea to
the west, and the India Ocean to the south.
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India's
puzzleboard of 26 states holds virtually every kind
of landscape imaginable. An abundance of mountain
ranges and national parks provide ample opportunity
for eco-tourism and trekking, and its sheer size promises
something for everyone. From its northernmost point
on the Chinese border, India extends a good 2000 miles
(3200 km) to its southern tip, where the island nation
of Sri Lanka seems to be squeezed out of India like
a great tear, the synapse forming the Gulf of Mannar.
India's northern border is dominated mostly by Nepal
and the Himalayas, the world's highest mountain chain.
Following the sweeping mountains to the northeast,
its borders narrow to a small channel that passes
between Nepal, Tibet, Bangladesh, and Bhutan, then
spreads out again to meet Burma in area called the
"eastern triangle." Apart from the Arabian sea, its
western border is defined exclusively by Pakistan. |
India
can be organized along the compass points. North India,
shaped like a throat and two lungs, is the country's
largest region. It begins with the panhandle of Jammu
and Kashmir, a dynamic area with terrain varying from
arid mountains in the far north to the lake country
and forests near Sringar and Jammu. Falling south
along the Indus river valley, the North becomes flatter
and more hospitable, widening into the fertile plains
of Punjab to the west and the Himalayan foothills
of Uttar Pradesh and the Ganges river valley to the
East. Cramped between these two states is the capital
city, Delhi. The southwestern extremity of the North
is the large state of Rajastan, whose principal features
are the Thar Desert and the stunning "pink city" of
Jaipur. To the southeast is southern Uttar Pradesh
and Agra, home of the famous Taj Mahal. West India
contains the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa,
and part of the massive, central state of Madhya Pradesh.
The west coast extends from the Gujarat peninsula
down to Goa, and it is lined with some of India's
best beaches. The land along the coast is typically
lush, with rainforests reaching southward from Bombay
all the way to into Goa. A long mountain chain, the
Western Ghats, separates the verdant coast from the
Vindya mountains and the dry Deccan plateau further
inland. Home of the sacred Ganges river and the majority
of Himalayan foothills, East India begins with the
states of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, which comprise
the westernmost part of the region. East India also
contains an area known as the eastern triangle, which
is entirely distinct. This is the last gulp of land
that extends beyond Bangladesh, culminating in the
Naga Hills along the Burmese border. India reaches
its peninsular tip with South India, which begins
with the Deccan in the north and ends with Cape Comorin,
where Hindus believe that bathing in the waters of
the three oceans will wash away their sins.
The states in South India are Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, a favorite leisure destination.
The southeast coast, mirroring the west, also rests
snugly beneath a mountain range---the Eastern Ghats.
Because of India's size, its climate
depends not only on the time of year, but also the
location. In general, temperatures tend to be cooler
in the north, especially between September and March.
The south is coolest between November to January.In
June, winds and warm surface currents begin to move
northwards and westwards, heading out of the Indian
Ocean and into the Arabian Gulf. This creates a phenomenon
known as the south-west monsoon, and it brings heavy
rains to the west coast. |
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Between October and December, a similar
climatic pattern called the north-east monsoon appears in
the Bay of Bengal, bringing rains to the east coast. In
addition to the two monsoons, there are two other seasons,
spring and autumn. Though the word "monsoon" often brings
to mind images of torrential floods and landslides, the
monsoon seasons are not bad times to come to India. Though
it rains nearly every day, the downpour tends to come and
go quickly, leaving behind a clean, glistening landscape.
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People
and Culture
With nearly 1 billion citizens, India
is the second most populous nation in the world. It
is impossible to speak of any one Indian culture,
although there are deep cultural continuities that
tie its people together. English is the major language
of trade and politics, but there are fourteen official
languages in all.
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are twenty-four languages that are spoken by
a million people or more, and countless other
dialects. India has seven major religions and
many minor ones, six main ethnic groups, and
countless holidays. Religion is central to Indian
culture, and its practice can be seen in virtually
every aspect of life in the country.
Hinduism is the dominant faith of India, serving
about 80 percent of the population. Ten percent
worship Islam, and 5 perscent are Sikhs and
Christians; the rest (a good 45 million) are
Buddhists, Jains, Bahai, and more. |
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Environment
India is a large, triangular-shaped country
in southern Asia, buttressed by the long sweep
of the Himalaya in the north and protruding
into the Indian Ocean in the south. It's bordered
by Pakistan to the northwest, China, Nepal and
Bhutan to the north, and Bangladesh and Myanmar
to the east. Sri Lanka is the teardrop-shaped
island hanging off its southern tip. India covers
a land area of some 3,287,000 sq km (1,281,930sq
mi), though disputed borders with Pakistan and
China make this figure somewhat arbitrary. India
is the seventh largest country in the world.
Northern India contains the snow-bound peaks
and deep valleys of the Himalaya, and the vast
Gangetic Plain, which separates the Himalayan
region from the southern peninsula and stretches
from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal. South
of the plains, the land rises up into a triangular-shaped
plateau known as the Deccan, which ranges in
altitude from 300m (985ft) to 900m (2950ft).
The plateau is bordered by the Eastern and Western
ghats, ranges of hills which run parallel to
India's eastern and western coasts and separate
the fertile coastal strips from the interior.
Wildlife in India is often purported to have
enjoyed a privileged and protected position
thanks to the religious ideals and sentiments
of Hindus, Jains and Buddhists, but much of
this tradition has been lost. Extensive hunting
by the British and the Indian rajahs, large-scale
clearing of forests for agriculture, poaching,
pesticides and the ever-increasing population
have had disastrous effects on India's environment.
Only around 10 per cent of the country still
has forest cover and only 4 per cent is protected
within national parks and reserves. In the past
few decades the government has taken serious
steps to improve environmental management and
has established over 350 parks, sanctuaries
and reserves.
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The highlights
of India's fauna are its lions, tigers, leopards,
panthers, elephants and rhinoceroses, but the
country is also home to a rich variety of deer
and antelope, wild buffaloes, massive Indian
bisons, shaggy sloth bears, striped hyenas,
wild pigs, jackals and Indian wild dogs. Monkeys
include rhesus macaques, bonnet macaques and
long-tailed common langurs. The reptilian world
boasts magnificent king cobras, pythons, crocodiles,
large freshwater tortoises and monitor lizards,
while the diverse birdlife includes large hornbills,
serpent eagles and fishing owls, as well as
the elegant national bird, the peacock |
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