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Mumbai confidential
ON the descent into Mumbai, passengers can't help but notice Dharavi, Asia's largest slum. Arrival, usually at an awkward hour of the night, is singularly unimpressive. And should you touch down during the riotously popular Ganapati (elephant god) festival, immigration queues will stretch longer than usual, as staff will be away en masse enjoying the fun.
Remnants of the Raj
TO some, it was a sculpture park of the Raj; to others it was the junkyard of history. Whichever, it was certainly one of Lucknow's more bizarre tourist attractions.
Heavenly beds
THE subcontinental accommodation scene is hotting up as international hotel companies cash in on the booming economy, responding to growing demand from overseas and home-grown holidaymakers. From corporate-friendly city hotels to converted palaces and safari camps, travellers are spoiled for choice.
Sand and cinnamon
FAR from the deserts of Rajasthan and the buzzing metropolises of Delhi and Mumbai, the southwest of India is a tropical vastness, an altogether slower proposition. This is resortland, where chic new beachside hotels are attracting the cosmo Euro crowd -- German and Italian travellers, in particular -- who flock for the sting of the sun, the spice of the seafood cuisine and the relative emptiness of a 600km coastline of long white stretches of sand.
The spice of life
FIRST comes a field, then a row of haystacks and, finally, a cluster of old stone houses. Having slowly emerged from a landscape of forest and meadows, the small village of Saatri feels like a living Constable painting. But this is northern India rather than eastern England. The crops that grow around the houses aren't barley, wheat or corn but pumpkins, squash, guavas, lemons and walnuts. Harvested millet, lentils and chillis form little spice-coloured hills on the ground. A group of women scything in a far-off field can just be made out by their bright-coloured clothes.
Hot to trot ...
RAJASTHAN is what happens to India when the handbrake comes off. Careening through its own romantic cliches -- castles brooding over remote kingdoms, camel caravans swaying across the desert, domed pavilions in lotus-studded lakes -- the region is a runaway exotic. Everything in Rajasthan tends to excess: landscapes, colours, moustaches.
Himalayan holiday
SKIING in India sounds like an oxymoron. Travellers expect heat, dust and humidity. But occasionally it's possible to throw some snow into the mix. Up north, there's Kashmir, specifically the tiny hill resort of Gulmarg, about 40km from the state's capital, Srinagar. Here, they have built the northern hemisphere's highest gondola ski lift. Reaching more than 4000 lung-shrivelling metres (taller than most alpine peaks), it is lofty enough for your average, middle-of-the-rung snowboarder such as me.
Almost Goa
CHARACTERISED by its blink-and-miss inconspicuousness, little Diu is just a dot off the west coast of India. The island's quaint blend of Gujarati culture and Portuguese legacy has long fascinated me, so there is good reason to break our journey in Mumbai and hop on a plane to explore this time-warp ingredient in the cultural melting pot of India.
See: Cinema India: the Art of Bollywood, an exhibition in conjunction with the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, is on at the National Gallery of Victoria until May 20. According to the organisers, "The exhibition brings together some of the most remarkable examples of Indian cinema art, from large-scale hoardings and posters to photo cards, booklets, costumes, original film trailers and excerpts from key films." More: www.ngv.vic.gov.au