Thread: Introducing India ( My Country)

Kollam is a tranquil trading town and the secret southern approach to Kerala’s backwaters. One of the oldest ports in the Arabian Sea, it was once a major commerce hub that saw Roman, Arab, Chinese and later Portuguese, Dutch and British traders jostle ships into port, eager to get their hands on spices and the region’s valuable cashew crops. The town’s shady streets and antediluvian market are worth a wander, and the calm waterways of the surrounding Ashtamudi Lake are still fringed with coconut palms, cashew plantations and traditional villages.

The majestic Sun Temple at Konark – a Unesco World Heritage site – is, like the Taj Mahal, one of India’s signature buildings and Konark exists purely for it. Most visitors are day-trippers from Bhubaneswar or Puri, but it’s not a bad place to kick back in overnight.

Originally nearer the coast (the sea has receded 3km), Konark was visible from far out at sea and known as the ‘Black Pagoda’ by sailors, in contrast to the whitewashed Jagannath of Puri.

Maharashtra’s Konkan Coast – the narrow strip between the Western Ghats and Arabian Sea – will suit those travellers really wishing to deviate from the beaten track. It’s a remote, little-explored fringe of superlative beaches, disco-green paddy fields, heaped-up hills and collapsing clifftop forts. It’s not the easiest region to travel through; accommodation is scarce, the food monotonous, transport painfully slow and the locals completely unaccustomed to foreigners. However, the Konkan Railway provides access to some of the bigger towns while local buses help connect up the dots. If you want to gain the most from this area then rent a car and driver in Mumbai and drift slowly down the coast to Goa. You may have to spend some nights sleeping in villagers’ houses – be generous with how much you give. The rewards for your efforts are beaches of which the Maldives would be jealous!

Once a city of huge strategic importance, Kota has found its stride in modern Rajasthan as a major industrial and chemical centre, and so remains refreshingly free from tourist hustle. Still, it has a spectacular palace with an excellent museum and lovely murals. The revitalising Chambal River, filled with small crocodiles and plied by boats of all sizes, is the state’s only permanent river, and sustains a wealth of mostly unexplored terrain. Kota is also famous for kota doria, exquisite saris woven with golden thread in the nearby village of Kaithoon.

Following Rajput conquest of this area in the 12th century AD, Bundi became its capital, with Kota going to the ruler’s eldest son. In 1624, Kota became a separate state, remaining so until it was integrated into Rajasthan after Independence.

Kotagiri is a quiet village 28km east of Ooty. The oldest of the three Nilgiri hill stations, the village itself is dusty and uninspiring but the surrounding landscape of tea estates, tribal Kota settlements and rolling hills is a world away from the overdevelopment of Ooty.

From Kotagiri you can visit Catherine Falls, 8km away near the Mettupalayam road (the last 3km is by foot only, and the falls only flow after rain), Elk Falls (6km) and Kodanad Viewpoint (22km), where there’s a view over the Coimbatore Plains and Mysore Plateau. A half-day taxi tour to all three will cost around Rs 600. The scenery on the road down to Mettupalayam is gorgeous, so you may want to detour this way if you’re heading down from Ooty.

Sandwiched between the Western Ghats and the backwaters, Kottayam is more renowned for being Kerala’s centre of the spice and rubber trade than for its aesthetic appeal. It’s a good place to make a connection between these two regions, or to pop into the pretty backwater village of Kumarakom.

Kottayam is a bookish town: the first Malayalam-language printing press was established here in 1820 and it was the first district in India to achieve 100% literacy. Today it’s home to the newspaper Malayala Manorama (with the second-largest circulation in India) and is the headquarters of DC Books, Kerala’s excellent bookshop chain. A place of churches and seminaries, Kottayam was a refuge for the Orthodox church when the Portuguese began forcing Keralan Christians to switch to Catholicism in the 16th century.

The frenzied beachfront development, bloated prices and indefatigable souvenir-sellers of Kovalam are almost worth putting up with for its lovely slice of sand and perfectly swaying palms. Permanently tattooed on European charter-group itineraries, these days there is little room left for the budgeteers that pioneered India’s tourism industry. Nevertheless, Kovalam clings to some remnants of charm, particularly once you step off the main-beach drag into the rice paddies and palm groves that stretch far inland. It can be a good place to kick back for a few days, particularly during quieter times.

Kumbakonam is a busy, dusty commercial centre, nestled along the Cauvery River some 37km northeast of Thanjavur. Here you can visit the many superb Chola temples scattered around town, or head east to the coastal towns of the Cauvery Delta. It’s also an easy day trip from Thanjavur.

There’s no tourist office in Kumbakonam, and road names and signs here are more erratic than usual. The best place to exchange travellers cheques is at the UAE Exchange (2423212; 134 Kamarajar Rd) near the train station. You’ll find an ICICI Bank ATM almost opposite Ashok Net Café (2433054; 24 Ayikulam Rd; per hr Rs 20; 9am-10.30pm).

The last of the four main pilgrimage sites marking Buddha’s life – the others are Lumbini (Nepal), Bodhgaya and Sarnath – Kushinagar is where Buddha died, breathing his last words: ‘All things must pass. Work out your own salvation with diligence’. According to a Buddhist text, when he died ‘the earth shook, stars shot from the heavens, the sky in the 10 directions burst forth in flames and the air filled with celestial music’. Devotees from several countries have built temples here to accommodate monks and the pilgrims who visit this holy site. The sites of interest are strung out along Buddha Marg, a peaceful, green area of town with a suitably reverent atmosphere.

Kutch, India’s wild west, is a geographic phenomenon, full of rugged, fiery beauty. What appears an endless desert plain running dead straight for the horizon, is in fact a seasonal island. The tortoise-shaped land (kachbo means tortoise in Gujarati) is flat and dry, but the villages dotted throughout the dramatic, inhospitable landscape feel like pre-partition Pakistan, and the tribal villagers produce some of India’s finest folk textiles, glittering with exquisite embroidery and mirrorwork.

It’s edged by the Gulf of Kutch – a dangerous, swirling sea – and Great and Little Ranns. During the dry season, the Ranns are vast expanses of hard, dried mud. Then, with the start of the monsoon, they’re flooded first by seawater, then by fresh river water. The salt in the soil makes the low-lying marsh area almost completely barren. Only on scattered ‘islands’ above the salt level is there vegetation – coarse grass – which provides fodder for the region’s rich wildlife. These grasslands are under threat from the gando baval (crazy thorn tree), which is spreading across the Rann at an alarming rate, threatening to destroy fragile ecosystems.