Delhi
Your first impression of Delhi
is unlikely to be a good one, particularly if it's also your first impression of
India. You'll most likely notice the pollution, the crowds, the smell, the noise
and the ceaseless hassles long before you notice the city's charms. But it's
worth persevering as the history of this city is fascinating, and it's all
around you: the bazaars of Paharganj are a wonderful introduction to India's
backpacker trail; the city's monuments are among the most architectuarally
striking in the country; and the food here is great.
Delhi is the capital of India,
and it's also the travel hub of northern India. It's an excellent base for
visiting Agra and the Taj Mahal, and the Rajasthani colour of Jaipur is less
than five hours away. If you're heading north to the Himalaya or east to the
ghats of Varanasi, you'll probably pass through Delhi. So you might as well grit
your teeth, hold your breath and dive on in.
Mumbai
Mumbai is the glamour of
Bollywood cinema, cricket on the maidans on weekends, bhelpuri on the beach at
Chowpatty and red double-decker buses. It is also the infamous cages of the
red-light district, Asia's largest slums, communalist politics and powerful
mafia dons. This tug of war for the city's soul is played out against a
Victorian townscape more reminiscent of a prosperous 19th century English
industrial city than anything you'd expect to find on the edge of the Arabian
Sea.
Goa
It's a shame Goa comes burdened
with a history of louche living, because there's so much more to it than sun,
sand and psychedelia. The allure of Goa is that it remains quite distinct from
the rest of India and is small enough to be grasped and explored in a way that
other Indian states are not. It's not just the familiar remnants of European
colonialism or the picture-book exoticism that make it seem so accessible, it's
the prevalence of Roman Catholicism and a form of social and political
progressiveness that Westerners feel they can relate to. Although Hindus make up
two-thirds of the population, the people of Goa are more liberal-minded than
imperviously devout, in a way that is unmatched elsewhere in India.
Kolkata
The capital of West Bengal
sprawls shapelessly along the eastern bank of the Hooghly River. Once the
glorious capital of British India, its urban horror story of squalor and
starvation only began with Partition and a resulting massive influx of refugees.
This plucky city, however, is keen to promote itself as the 'City of Joy' and,
given half a chance, it reveals itself to be one of the country's most
fascinating and congenial cities, the intellectual capital of the nation, and a
thriving political and arts arena.
Some welcome space is provided
by the Maidan, an enormous open expanse used by Kolkatans for recreation,
cricket and football matches, political assemblies, yoga sessions, and grazing
flocks. The area is large enough to engulf the massive Fort William,
still in use today, although visitors are only allowed inside with special
permission (rarely granted). At the southern end of the Maidan stands the huge
white-marble Victoria Memorial, fronted by a statue of a frumpy Queen
Victoria, which holds an extensive collection of British-Indian historical
objects.
Kolkata's administrative centre
is BBD Bagh (Dalhousie Square). The square holds both the whimsical and
the brutal: on one side is the Writers' Building where 'writers' (a
quaint euphimism for clerks) beaver away in the Kafkaesque labyrinth of
corridors and vast chambers while quintuplicate forms and carbon copies pile up
along the walls; on the other side is the GPO which was built on the site of the
legendary 'black hole of Kolkata'. It was here that, on an uncomfortably humid
night in 1756, over 140 British inhabitants were forced into an underground
cellar causing many to die overnight of suffocation.
According to legend, when
Siva's wife's corpse was cut up, one of her fingers fell at the site of what is
now the Kali Temple and it remains a spectacularly grubby place of
pilgrimage. In the morning, goats have their throats slit here to satisfy the
goddess' bloodlust. The city's other attractions include: the excellent
Indian Museum, the largest and probably the best museum in the country (but
dusty and worse for wear due to lack of funds); the Botanical Gardens,
home to a 200-year-old banyan tree, claimed to have the second-largest canopy in
the world (the largest is in Andhra Pradesh); and the iconic, cantilevered
Howrah Bridge, considered to be the busiest bridge in the world.
Budget accommodation, cheap
eateries and bars are thick on the ground in Chowringhee, south of the Howrah
Bridge. Sudder St, off Chowringhee Rd, is the focal point for budget travellers.
There are also lots of cinemas in this area, screening Kolkatan arthouse fare,
new release Hollywood movies and their Bollywood cousins. Kolkata is no
shopper's paradise, especially since a clean-up campaign has forced hawkers off
the pavements, but New Market, north of Sudder St, is a good place for arguing
the price of goods from clothing to caneware.
Kolkata is on the international
loop and you can sometimes pick up cut price tickets at the airlines offices
around Chowringhee. Kolkata's Indian Airlines offers frequent domestic flights
to major Indian destinations including Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, and
Lucknow. Generally speaking, it's better to travel by train rather than bus but
if it's a bus you're after, you'll be looking at catching the dubiously named
'Rocket Service' from the Esplanade bus stand. For outbound trains, go to either
Howrah station on the west bank of the Hooghly river which handles trains going
to the city, or Sealdah station on the opposite side which takes you in the
direction of Darjeeling and other northern regions.
Agra
The Taj Mahal, described
as the most extravagant monument ever built for love, has become the de facto
tourist emblem of India. This poignant Moghul mausoleum was constructed by
Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his second wife Mumtaz Mahal, whose death in
childbirth in 1631 left the emperor so heartbroken that his hair is said to have
turned grey overnight. Construction of the Taj began in the same year and was
not completed until 1653.
The emperor's hair may have
gone shabby but his eye for detail apparently remained acute - the
near-perfection of the Taj's architecture does not diminish upon closer
inspection; it merely comes into sharper focus. Semiprecious stones were laid
into the marble in elaborate designs through a process called pietra dura. If
you're planning to check out this marvel, don't forget that it's closed on
Friday to all non-Muslims.
The city's other major
attraction is the massive red sandstone Agra Fort, also on the bank of
the Yamuna River. The auricular fort's colossal double walls rise over 20m
(65ft) in height and measure 2.5km (1.55mi) in circumference. They are encircled
by a fetid moat and contain a maze of superb halls, mosques, chambers and
gardens which form a small city within a city. Unfortunately not all buildings
are open to visitors, including the white marble Pearl Mosque, regarded by some
as the most beautiful mosque in India.
Other worthwhile Moghul gems
include the Itimad-ud-daulah, many of whose design elements were used in
the construction of the Taj, and Akbar's Mausoleum at Sikandra which
blends Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Christian motifs, much like the
syncretic religious philosophy Akbar developed attempted to do.
Agra is near enough to Delhi -
200km (125mi) - to be done as a day trip. It's on the major tourist circuit so
you can take your pick of transport; plane, bus, or train.
Varanasi
For over 2000 years, Varanasi,
the 'eternal city', has been the religious capital of India. Built on the banks
of the sacred Ganges, it is said to combine the virtues of all other places of
pilgrimage and anyone who ends their days here, regardless of creed and however
great their misdeeds, is transported straight to heaven. The easternmost city in
Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi is an important seat of learning, and is the home of
novelists, philosophers and grammarians. This has been reflected in its role in
the development of Hindi - the closest thing to a national language in India.
Varanasi has over 100 bathing
and burning ghats but the Manikarnika Ghat is the most sacred of them
all. This is the main burning ghat and one of the most auspicious places that a
Hindu can be cremated. Corpses are handled by outcasts known as chandal, and
they are carried through the alleyways of the old city to the holy Ganges on a
bamboo stretcher swathed in cloth. You'll see huge piles of firewood stacked
along the top of the ghat, each log carefully weighed on giant scales so that
the price of cremation can be calculated. There are no problems watching
cremations, since at Manikarnika death is simply business as usual, but leave
your camera at your hotel.
The best ghat to hang out at
and absorb the riverside activity is Dasaswamedh Ghat. Here you'll find a
dense concentration of people who come to the edge of the Ganges not only for a
ritual bath, but to do yoga, offer blessings, buy paan, sell flowers, get a
massage, play cricket, have a swim, get a shave, and do their karma good by
giving money to beggars. It's also the best place to arrange a boat trip since
there's plenty of competition among boatmen.
Apart from the many ghats
lining the river, the city's other highlights include the Golden Temple,
built in a roofed quadrangle with stunning gilded towers; shopping at markets
famous for their ornamental brasswork, lacquered toys, shawls, silks and sitars
(yes, Ravi Shankar does live here); losing yourself in the impossibly narrow
labyrinthine alleyways which snake back from the ghats; visiting the nearby
Buddhist centre of Sarnath; and taking the compulsory dawn river trip
slowly down the Ganges.
Varanasi is on the major
tourist loop, about 580km (360mi) east of Agra, and 780km (485mi) southeast of
Delhi, and can be eached by plane, bus or train.
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