Best Travel Destinations - India
Amritsar, nestled into the northwest corner of ancient Punjab, is the indisputible capital of the Sikh religion and a popular destination for travelers of all walks and religions. The ancient city’s main attraction is the Harmandir Sahib, informally known as the Golden Temple, a towering holy building visited by millions of religious pilgrims each year. As Mecca is to the Muslims, The Golden Temple is to the Sikhs. The temple, whose construction began in the 16th century, was intended as a place where people of all walks of life can come and worship God equally. The temple is regarded as one of the world’s most poignant spiritual destinations, and you’ll know why as soon as you see its golden domes rising majestically above central Amritsar. ...
Diwali is a joyous Hindu holiday that celebrates the triumph of good over evil and illuminates the homes and hearts of all who take part with hope for the new year. Diwali, also known as The Festival of Lights is a five-day festival centered on family and community fellowship marked with lights, delicious feasts, fireworks, street fairs, prayer and music. As the name suggests much of the celebration involves light or small candles called Diyas, which are lit to signify personal victory of good over evil and the return of faith. This luminescent festival starts each day before sunrise with entire cities lit up by thousands of candles, lights and lamps. Flowers are strung into garlands and draped over homes and businesses as people flock ...
On the edge of the Thar Desert lies the holy little lakeside town of Pushkar, small enough to explore in one day, yet full of travelers who have changed their plans to stay indefinitely. The entire town is dedicated to the worship of Brahma, creator of all things, so it's only fitting that so much inspired creativity should take place here every year for the three day Pushkar Camel Fair held in late October/early November. What started as a venue for buying, selling and trading camels has become a spectacle of music, dance and artistry. The sheer number of camels themselves cause sensory overload, and are living canvasses for colorful textiles, embroidery, and jewelry. At first the camels' blank, oddly contented stares seem humorous in ...
India is like the proverbial box of chocolates. You never quite know what you’re gonna get. When fingering the relevant chapter in your guide book on the northern state of Maharashtra, the Ellora Caves are unlikely to be the last strawberry creams in the chocolate box that are unceremoniously oozing their sweet centre under the relentless north Indian sunshine. The fact is, there are no strawberry creams in India. Sandwiched between Agra’s Taj Mahal to the north, and the Bollywood stronghold of Mumbai to the southwest, the small medieval town of Aurangabad (or ‘City of Gates’ as it is affectionately known) is situated on a major silk trade route surrounded by UNESCO World Heritage caves. As such, it forms the cultural heartbeat in the state ...
India is a country rich in religion, the predominant one being Hinduism, but Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Jainism and Sikhism have also made their mark on the subcontinent. The Hindu religion is rumored to contain upwards of 33 million gods, one can only imagine the abundance of temples in India there are for worship. Attempting to visit all of these would be foolish, but from Karnataka to Himachal Pradesh, you can visit temple after temple, from obscure to immaculate. Everywhere in India there are celebrations of the divine - on the bus a Ganesh (the elephant headed God) is surrounded by small, multi-colored blinking lights; in a rickshaw a picture of Lakshmi (Goddess of wealth) is garlanded in marigolds; and a hotel lobby has a shrine ...
Imagine you're walking down a city street in India. Spring has arrived and the sun is shining brightly. The level of excitement in the air is contagious. From around the corner a child runs out and throws a water balloon at you, giggling as he runs to find his next target. A cloud of colour bursts into the air as you realize that the balloon wasn't just holding water. It was also holding coloured powder in celebration of the Hindu Holi Festival of Colours. Well-known throughout the world, the Holi Festival of Colours is one of the oldest Hindu festivals observed during the spring season, with adults and children alike taking part in the celebration. Depending on the region, it is also referred to as ...
Strictly speaking, this temple is called the Karni Mata Temple, but to call it by anything other than the “rat temple” would depart from essentially what it is—a temple infested with rats. My mother used to tell me not to feed stray cats as they will come back every day. Try feeding about five thousand rats each day and see what happens. Happy well-fed rats will breed faster than their unfed brethren, which in rat terms is extremely fast! My bus arrived at the Rat Temple on the northern ridge of Rajasthan at 4 a.m. from Pushkar. I alighted into a dark and desolate dust bowl along with the three travellers I met at the bus stop. There was no one. Not even a rat—yet! ...
Varanasi city is the living and breathing expression of Hindu India at peak rush hour. It is everything that has been said about it, and more than can ever be said through the limitations of language. India is generally like a sense-bomb detonating inside your head and saturating your senses. So much so at times, that one regularly stops in motion to drink in the wonderment of it all. Varanasi city is the brazen embodiment of this. Prepare for unbridled India minus any packaging—unwrapped and uncensored. Varanasi city is an animated pilgrimage of resplendent ceremonies guaranteed to shock and delight in equal measure. Coming into this ancient city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh is like walking back in time. The people, the buildings, ...
Badrinath is a sacred place of Hindus who believe it to be the abode of Lord Vishnu. The town of Badrinath is spread over a stretch of 3 km in a valley between two mountain ranges: Nar and Narayan, at an altitude of 3,133 metres and just 44 km from Joshimath in Uttranchal, India. Here, the mountains are imposing but not rugged or steep, unlike the Gharwal range. They are green like the meadows and drop gently into the valley. It seems as thought they cradle Badrinath like a child in their arms. The colour of the mountains is a deep contrast to the clear blue sky, and the snow-clad mountain ranges add to the colour on the canvas. The Alaknanda River flows through the ...
This mountainside township in the foothills of the Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh, is Tibetan culture without Chinese officials leaning over your shoulder. The town is mostly populated by Tibetan refugees and their families who had fled their homeland just a few hundred kilometres away on the other side of the Indian border. A little bit of history is noteworthy here. In 1959, following the unsuccessful Tibetan uprising against Chairman Mao’s occupying Chinese army, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of the Tibetan people escaped across the mountains of Tibet and over the border into India. In doing so, a Tibetan Government in Exile was created in McLeod Ganj with the Dalai Lama as its spiritual leader. Over the years that followed, many more Tibetans ...
:
