A&K&India

India. It’s huge: more than one million square miles in area. It’s geographically diverse: with landscapes ranging from the bone-dry Thar Desert to Kerala’s lush rainforests.

Its one-billion-plus people speak more than a thousand languages, subscribe to all of the world’s major faiths and live their lives within a complicated social structure stratified by caste. Little wonder that the country’s energy, expanse and sheer colorful variety have been drawing fascinated visitors for thousands of years!

Today’s traveller will find a nation moving from an almost exclusively agrarian past toward an industry- and service-based economy. In large cities especially (and India’s cities are very large), modernity reigns. But even here the innovations of 21st-century life tend to complement rather than supplant time-tested ways of life. Matchmakers use the Internet, and ancient religious epics circulate on DVD with Dolby sound and English subtitles. (As an ex-British colony, India is a particularly easy country for English speakers to navigate. Many local people speak English; signs and directions are frequently posted in English too.)

However, India remains a romantic, exotic and enticingly different destination. The country’s storied past lives on in cherished monuments like the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort and the Ajanta Caves, and Royal Bengal tigers pad through the ruins of maharajah’s palaces in nature reserves.

When you visit, be prepared for heat and, in the south, high humidity. Food specialties vary from region to region, ranging from the rich Mughal-influenced meat dishes of the north to the flavorful, satisfying vegetarian meals of the south. While local chefs use spices with an extravagant hand, usually their complex mixtures add layers of flavor rather than heat.