About India

 Travelling is one the most favourite hobbies and loved by many of us new places, new people often turn out to be great experiences and when you travel with an open mind it becomes even more unique as you 

have opened your mind to absorb almost anything and everything the new destination and friends too

 

India -this enormous country with marvelous culture. A culture of the life and the love. Learn it to love. Age-old and modern India has got fascinating civilizations, which are so different, like its geographical extremes. Here each traveler dips into such experience worlds: mirror-image-ritually, adventurously, historically, religiously, natively, multicolored, simply, poor, in addition, magnificently. Worlds, which address all in this enormous, far country your senses.

Regions

India is administratively divided into 28 states and 7 union territories. The states are broadly demarcated on linguistic lines. They vary in size; the larger ones are bigger and more diverse than some countries of Europe. The union territories are smaller than the states—sometimes they are just one city—and they have much less autonomy.
These states and union territories are grouped by convention into the following regions: 

Map of India's regions and states

Himalayan North  (Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand) Mountainous and beautiful, a tourist destination for the adventurous and the spiritual. This region contains some of India's most visited hill-stations and religious places. Includes the exquisitely scenic states.

The Plains (Bihar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh) The country's capital Delhi is here. The rivers Ganga and Yamuna flow through this plain. Many of the events that shaped India's history took place in this region.

Western India (Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan) Miles and miles of the Thar Desert. Home to the colorful palaces, forts and cities of Rajasthan, the country's most vibrant and biggest city Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), wonderful beaches and pristine forests of Goa and Bollywood.

Southern India (Andaman and Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu) South India features famous and historical temples, tropical forests, backwaters, beaches hill stations, and the vibrant cities of Bangalore, Kochi, Chennai and Hyderabad. The island groups of Andaman & Nicobar (on the east) and Lakshadweep on the west are included in this region for convenience, but they are far from the mainland and have their own unique characteristics.

Eastern India (Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Sikkim, West Bengal) Economically less developed, but culturally rich and perhaps the most welcoming of outsiders. Features Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta), once the capital of British India, and the temple cities of Puri, Bhubaneswar and Konark. Geographically it stretches from the mountains to the coast, resulting in fascinating variations in climate. It is also the mineral storehouse of India, having the country's largest and richest mines.

North-Eastern India (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura) insular and relatively virgin, the country's tribal corner, with lush, beautiful landscapes, endemic flora and fauna of the Indo-Malayan group and famous for Tea Gardens. Consists of seven tiny states (by Indian standards, some of them are larger than Switzerland or Austria) popularly nicknamed as the Seven Sisters.

Cities

Below is a selection of ten of India's most notable cities. Other cities can be found under their specific regions.

• Delhi — the capital of India and the heart of Northern India.

• Bangalore — The garden city, once the sleepy home of pensioners now transformed into Silicon city with alot of software companies establishing their offices in the city.

• Hyderabad — The City of Pearls.

• Chennai (formerly Madras) — main port in Southern India, cradle of Carnatic Music and Bharatanatyam, home of the famous Marina beach, Automobile Capital of India and a fast emerging IT hub.

• Jaipur — the Pink City is a major exhibit of the Hindu Rajput culture of medieval Northern India.

• Kochi (formerly Cochin) — the Queen of Arabian Sea, historically, a centre of international trade, now the gateway to the sandy beaches and backwaters.

• Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) — the cultural capital of India, Kolkata is home to numerous colonial buildings. It is known as The City of Joy.

• Mumbai (formerly 'Bombay) — the financial capital of India, "Bollywood" (Indian Hindi Film Industry) hub.

• Shimla — the former summer capital of British India located in the Himalayan foothills with a large legacy of Victorian architecture.

• Varanasi — considered the most sacred Hindu city, located on the banks of the Ganges, one of the oldest continually inhabited cities of the world.

 Other destinations

India has many outstanding landmarks and areas of outstanding beauty. Below is a list of nine of the most notable:

• Bodh Gaya — the place where the Buddha Sakyamuni attained enlightenment.
• Ellora/Ajanta — spectacular rock-cut cave monasteries and temples, holy place for the Buddhists, Jains and Hindus.
• Goa — an east-west mix, beaches and syncretic culture.
• Golden Temple — Sikh holy site located in Amritsar
• Hampi — the awesome ruins of the empire of Vijayanagara
• Khajuraho — famed for its erotic sculptures
• Konark — Sun Temple, unique example of Kalingan Architecture, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
• Lake Palace — the Lake Palace of Octopussy fame, located in Udaipur
• Meenakshi Temple — a spectacular Hindu temple in Madurai
• Taj Mahal — the incomparable marble tomb in Agra

See also: Indian National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries and Sacred sites of the Indian sub-continent.