Introducing India ( My Country)

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Nagarjunakonda

he ancient remains at this site, 150km southeast of Hyderabad, were discovered in 1926 by archaeologist AR Saraswathi. In 1953, when it became known that a massive hydroelectric project would soon create the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir, which would flood the area, a major six-year excavation was undertaken to unearth the area’s many Buddhist ruins: stupas, viharas, chaityas (temples) and mandapas (pillared pavilions), as well as some outstanding examples of white-marble depictions of the Buddha’s life. The finds were reassembled on Nagarjunakonda, an island in the middle of the dam.

Prehistoric remnants suggest human activity began here around 200, 000 years ago. From the 3rd century BC until the 4th century AD, the Krishna River valley was home to powerful empires that supported the sangha (community of monks and nuns), including the Ikshvakus, whose capital was Nagarjunakonda. It’s estimated that this area alone had 30 monasteries.

Nagarjunakonda is named after Nagarjuna, a 2nd-century-AD monk and philosopher. He founded the Madhyamika school, which developed into Mahayana Buddhism

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Nagpur

Nagpur, the geographic centre and orange-growing capital of India, is a clean and affluent city which makes a good jumping-off point for a series of trips into the far eastern corner of Maharashtra. In addition to its proximity to Ramtek and the ashrams around Sevagram, Nagpur is a convenient stop for those heading to the isolated Navagaon National Park, 135km east, and Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, 150km south of Nagpur. The former has bears, wild dogs and elusive leopards, while the latter hosts gaurs, chitals, nilgais and seldom-spotted tigers.

The countryside around Nagpur might be interesting but the city itself has such a dearth of attractions that locals list a shiny shopping mall and a less shiny prison in the towns’ roll call of sites. What is worth prodding about in is the colourful central market – the star buys are the near-fluorescent clay pots. The one time Nagpur is worth visiting for its own sake is during the Dussehra Festival (September or October).

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Nainital

Kumaon’s largest town and favourite hill resort, Nainital gets crowded with holidaying families and honeymooners during peak seasons. Occupying a steep forested valley around the deep, green volcanic lake Naini, it’s an attractive, upbeat place founded by homesick Brits reminded of the Cumbrian Lake District. Disaster struck here in December 1880 when a major landslide buried a hotel and 150 people, creating the memorial recreation ground now known as the Flats.

Plenty of hotels are set in the forested hills around the lake, there’s a busy bazaar and a spider web of walking tracks covers the forested hillsides to viewpoints overlooking the distant Himalayan peaks. For travellers it’s a good place to kick back and relax, eat well, go horse riding or paddling on the lake, but avoid peak seasons – roughly May to mid-July and October – when Nainital is packed and hotel prices double.

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Nasik

Standing on the Godavari, one of India’s holiest rivers, Nasik (also known as Nashik) is the kind of town where you can’t walk more than a couple of steps without tripping over yet another exotic temple or colourful bathing ghat. It’s an absorbing and exciting place and has many associations with the Hindu epic Ramayana. Lord Rama and his wife Sita were exiled here and it’s where Lakshmana hacked off the nasika (nose) of Ravana’s sister, thus giving the city its name.

Nasik also serves as a base for pilgrims visiting Trimbak and Shirdi (79km southeast), birthplace of the original Sai Baba. Every 12 years Nasik plays host to the Kumbh Mela, the largest religious gathering on earth. The next one is due in 2019, but a smaller gathering, Ardha Mela (Half Mela), is held every six years.

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North Goa

In North Goa, Panaji, also know as Panjim, is a quiet achiever offering a glimpse into small town life for those who decide to hang their hat here for a spell. From here you can explore the still-Portuguese flavoured town of Old Goa, with its World Heritage listed churches and convents. The market town of Mapusa comes alive on Fridays with its raucous markets, and the beaches of Candolim and Sinquerim, though mainly visited by package-deal travellers and charter groups, offer some spectacular views.

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Nubra Valley

From Leh, a rough road runs north over the awesome Khardung La, the highest motorable pass in the world. Even in summer, the crossing is crusted in permafrost and the Border Roads Organisation faces an ongoing battle to keep the pass open through winter and autumn. Beyond the pass is the wide, flat Nubra Valley, crisscrossed by the winding channels of the Shyok and Nubra Rivers.

At first glance, the valley seems parched and dry, but this is prime farming land by Ladakhi standards. Farmers grow apples, apricots and barley and harvest the orange berries of the tsestalulu (sea buckthorn bush). Dotted around the valley are ancient gompas and ruined palaces, and villages are close enough together to make this magnificent walking country.

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Orissa

Orissa is a captivating state with diverse, vibrant living cultures and an unrivalled architectural legacy. It’s where mighty temple chariots carrying powerful deities are pulled through city streets by a heaving throng of devotees, where serene stone carvings of exceptional beauty continue to be excavated from early Buddhist sites and where Adivasis (tribal people) maintain remarkable traditions that predate many of the great empires of the subcontinent.

Orissa is also celebrated for its natural heritage: elephants and tigers crash and prowl through the Eastern Ghats at Similipal National Park, a key tiger reserve. Chilika Lake, Asia’s largest lagoon, hosts the rare Irrawaddy dolphin as well as millions of migratory birds, including pink flamingos. Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary has dolphins, a surfeit of birdlife and monster crocodiles. In January masses of olive ridley turtles pull themselves up onto Orissa’s long beaches to lay their eggs; two months later, thousands of tiny hatchlings crawl to the sea.

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Omkareshwar

A regular mini Varanasi, Omkareshwar is an Om-shaped island that has long attracted sadhus in droves but is only beginning to show up on travellers’ itineraries. When the sadhus aren’t sleeping off their pilgrimages in the island’s warren of lanes, among colourful stalls selling souvenir linga, they attend Shri Omkar Mandhata. This cavelike temple, which houses the only shapeless jyothi lingam, is one of many Hindu and Jain monuments on the island.

You can walk 8km round the island or up the 370 steps to the ruined Gaudi Somnnath Temple, from where you can descend the hill to the northern tip of the island, where sadhus bathe in the confluence of the holy Narmada and Keveri Rivers.

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Orchha

Entered by a gate crowned with a red Ganesh, Orchha’s name (Hidden Place) is singularly appropriate. Temples, palaces and chhatris fight their way out of the encroaching jungle, their spires and domes overshadowing a few ramshackle streets. At sunset, vultures peer down from the temple tops at the Hindu faithful drifting in to chant incantations to Lord Rama, who they believe lives and breathes in Ram Raja Temple.

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Ooty

Ooty is South India’s most famous hill station, established by the British in the early 19th century as the summer headquarters of the then-Madras government and memorably nicknamed ‘Snooty Ooty’.

Until about 20 years ago it resembled an unlikely combination of southern England and Australia: single-storey stone cottages, bijou-fenced flower gardens, leafy winding lanes and tall eucalyptus stands, all surrounded by the tea plantations that were the town’s original raison d’être. Times have changed and, if not for the climate and the rolling hills, Ooty’s centre resembles any overburdened provincial Indian town.

But Ooty has an undeniable charm and the nearby hills and forest are sensational for trekking. Life here is relaxed and just a few kilometres out of town you are in the peace of the hills with superb views. The journey up to Ooty on the miniature train is romantic and the scenery stunning – try to get a seat on the left-hand side where you get the best views across the mountains.

From April to June (the very busy season) Ooty is a welcome relief from the hot plains and in the colder months (October to March) it’s crisp, clear and surprisingly cool. You’ll need warm clothing – which you can buy very cheaply here – as the overnight temperature occasionally drops to 0°C.

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Old Goa

Gazing at Old Goa today it’s hard to believe that this fallen city was once able to stand up to Lisbon and demand, ‘Who’s the man?’. But back in the 1500s and with a population exceeding that of Lisbon and London, that’s exactly what Old Goa was able to do. However the good times didn’t last long and both the Inquisition and a major epidemic did their best to decimate this decadent and immoral dollop of Portugal. Finally, in 1843, the capital was shifted to the far more prim and proper Panaji.

All that’s now left of Golden Goa are half-a-dozen imposing churches and cathedrals (among the largest in Asia) and an awful lot of atmosphere.

Old Goa can get crowded on weekends and in the 10 days leading up to the Feast of St Francis Xavier on 3 December. The Archaeological Survey of India publishes the useful guide Old Goa (Rs 10), available from the archaeological museum.

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Pachmarhi

Madhya Pradesh’s hill station feels a long way from steamy central India. The mountain town is surrounded by waterfalls, cave temples, the forested ranges of the Satpura National Park and rock paintings dating back 10, 000 years. Visitors flock here to attend mass religious meetings held by big-name gurus and to scale Chauragarh, or simply to go trekking in a cool climate.

Explorer Captain J Forsyth ‘discovered’ Pachmarhi as late as 1857 and set up the first Forestry Department at Bison Lodge in 1862. Always keen to move to a cool hill station, the British army set up regional headquarters here, starting an association with the military that remains today.

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Padum

Basking under an endless sky, Padum is the capital of Zanskar, but don’t expect more than a few dusty streets and a bus stand. Around Padum, the Zanskar valley shimmers in the wan desert light. Yaks and dzo graze calmly in the fields and the plain is dotted with small farms and villages. Padum has a little town mosque, catering to a small community of Sunni Muslims, and two ruined gompas. A short walk across the valley is the medieval monastery at Pibiting, topped by a massive chorten with views over the plain.

The Tourist Reception Centre (245017; 10am-4pm Mon-Sat) can advise on trekking routes and arrange guides and porters for Rs 250 to 300 per day. Alternatively, you can make arrangements through Zanskar Trek (245136) on the road to the mosque.

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Phalgam

Set in a magical valley beside the Lidder River, Pahalgam is framed by pine forests and snowcovered peaks that bear more than a passing similarity to the Rocky Mountains. This was once Kashmir’s most popular resort, but today it exists in a state of limbo, empty for most of the year, but deluged with visitors during the annual Amarnath yatra (pilgrimage) from June to August. Outside of the pilgrimage season, this is a fine spot for walking, pony trekking or just enjoying the cool, clean mountain air. However, check the security situation before visiting – pilgrims have been repeatedly targeted by militants.

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Palolem

Palolem is the most southerly of Goa’s developed beaches and was once the state’s most idyllic. Nowadays its beauty is very much dependent on your point of view. For those who believe a beach cannot be paradise without a decent selection of cheap restaurants and hotels, a dose of nightlife and plenty of likeminded people then Palolem is still top of the pops. For those who prefer their paradise to be a little less claustrophobic then Palolem will make you feel queasy. Whatever your opinion one indisputable fact is that Palolem is far from undiscovered – the sheer number of ramshackle camps protruding out of what was once almost pristine jungle has turned Palolem into a kind of tropical Glastonbury – with all the associated good and bad points. In September 2006 the government destroyed all unlicensed businesses and buildings and, for a short time afterwards, Palolem was very much down in the dumps. However it hasn’t taken long for the village to get back on its feet and Palolem is once again back in the driving seat and sitting pretty at number one.

If Palolem is all too much for you then further north, and reachable by boat, is pretty Butterfly Beach, while around the southern headland is a small, rocky cove called Colomb Bay, with a couple of basic places to stay, and beyond that is another fine stretch of sand, Patnem Beach, with a handful of beach huts and something approaching surf.