My wish list for India

So now very soon I will be back in India….having seen some of the most magical places in the world (Egypt, Petra, Jerusalem, Cyprus)… I can for sure say…. India is most magical of them all… it is a nature's gift to mankind

From the arid deserts to the places where rainfall never seems to stop… from the mighty Himalayas to the roaring seas at Kanyakumari… India has it all… geographically only China can match it… historically only China, Egypt and Iran… but culturally nothing can match it all… the cultural and ethnic diversity in just mind boggling. In my office for instance ... out of 20 odd people , there are about 9 mother tongues and among Hindi speaker... we have more than 4 different ways of speaking Hindi.

So what is my wish list when I go back to India… well it is difficult to tell right now… (I am hooked on to www.indiamike.com and www.irfca.org to find some more exotic locales in India, that I would like to travel with my two year old son Vidhu)

Anyway, here is a brief list (I will keep adding to this post as and when I realize that something more magical is waiting just around the corner)

• Discovering the Bundela forts- from Gwalior till about Banda in Uttar Pradesh, the Bundela rajputs built an array of forts; from the magical Kalinjar and Ajaigarh to the historically endowed Jhansi and Mahoba… there are very few references of these forts in totality… I would like to visit them all, discovering them.

• Eastern Ghats- One of my friend and one of the few regular visitors to this website Subrat Behera, who could not accompany me to the Konkans, would like to visit the Eastern Ghats with me… the same way I traveled the Western Ghats… I remember seeing the Eastern Ghats while on a flight to Vishakapatnam… and mind you it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

• Traveling along the Narmada- One of my first dreams that I have never been able to accomplish… I have always found Narmada a more interesting river than any other river in India… because of its sheer exotica… rivers like Ganges have captured the imagination of travelers forever and they in turn have traveled the Ganges so much that its X factor is lost, Narmada still retains it in huge quantity… Narmada to me represents the crossroads of Have and Have-nots in India.
  

• Rural Bihar- Whatever you were told about Bihar may or may not be right… but surely it’s the most enchanting place in the world… One of my junior (originally from Bihar) was on the verge of going to Holland to join Eindhoven University for his PhD. While on a bus trip in Bihar, his bus was looted by goons… his wares were taken away, also his briefcase that contained all his degree certificates. He meekly asked one of the goons if he can take back his certificates as he was going to go to Holland and needed them as his testimonials. The goons, upon realizing, that he was a local studying in an IIT, not only returned his wares and congratulated him for bringing "name and fame" for Bihar. I want to feel this magic. Not to forget places like Nalanda, Vikramshila, Rajgir.

• Seeing the Shakuntala Railways- In the Deccan plateau runs the only private sector passenger railway from a place called Murtazapur to Achalgarh… want to check it out, if it continues till date. One of my friend went there in 2002 and found it a wonderful trip

• Vipassana Course- How about traveling inside oneself… high on my priority list is doing a Vipassana course in a lesser known town of India… Durg! anybody
  

This list is not exhaustive, I will keep updating it as and when I am able to remember any other element of my wishlist.