Full country name: Republic of India
Area: 3,287,590 sq km (1,229,737 sq mi)
Population: 1,014,003,817
Capital city: New Delhi
People: 72% Indo-Aryan, 25% Dravidian, 3% other Language: Hindi Religion: 80% Hindu, 14% Muslim, 2.4% Christian, 2% Sikh, 0.7% Buddhist, 0.5% Jains, 0.4% other
Government: Federal Republic
President: Kocheril Raman Narayanan
Prime Minister: Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Getting There & Away

India's major international airports are Mumbai (Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai (Madras)and a newly constructed international airport at Kerala. Flights from Europe tend to arrive in India in the early hours of the morning, which can be inconvenient if you don't have reserved accommodation or don't like tramping around unfamiliar cities in the dark. Delhi is the cheapest place to buy air tickets in India, followed by Calcutta and Mumbai. International flights to neighbouring countries can be very cheap: especially between Calcutta and Dhaka (Bangladesh), Delhi and Karachi (Pakistan) and Tiruchirappalli and Colombo (Sri Lanka). A new international airport near Kochi in Kerala is due to open soon. The departure tax on flights to Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal is approximately US$5, but to other countries it's US$10.

The most popular overland routes between India and Nepal are Birganj-Raxaul Bazaar, Sunauli-Bhairawa and Kakarbhitta-Siliguri. If you're heading from Kathmandu or Pokhara to Delhi or elsewhere in north-western India, then Sunauli is the most convenient entry point; to reach Calcutta or most of eastern India, Birganj is the best place to cross the border; and to get to Darjeeling, it's easiest to go via Kakarbhitta. It's fairly easy to travel between Calcutta and Dhaka overland. The only border crossing currently open between India and Pakistan is between Lahore and Amritsar. This crossing can be done either by train or by road. All other border crossings are by road only. The historic bus service between Lahore and Delhi, operating four times a week, is now up and running.

It's open to non-residents and although its a symbol of national unity, it's also the obvious target for disgruntled nationalists looking to continue the feud.

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Getting Around

India's major domestic airline, the government-run Indian Airlines, has an extensive network. The country's international carrier, Air India, also operates domestically on the Mumbai (Bombay)-Delhi, Mumbai-Calcutta, Delhi-Calcutta and Mumbai-Chennai (Madras) routes. Deregulation has radically improved service and swollen the number of secondary operators, though several have gone belly up recently. Sahara Indian Airlines and Jet Airways are probably the most stable of the new competitors.

The Indian Railways system is deservedly legendary and Indian rail travel is unlike any other sort of travel on earth. At times rail travel can be uncomfortable and frustrating, but it's also an integral part of the Indian travel experience. You should try to pick up the key points of Indian train etiquette as quickly as possible, otherwise you'll find yourself hopelessly attempting to defend your own private space. There are a number of different classes and a number of different trains: you want express or mail trains, but try all the different classes just for the hell of it. The Indian reservation system is labyrinthine and worthy of anthropological study, but be patient because it's one of the few bureaucracies in the country that actually works. When booking tickets, take advantage of the tourist quota allotment if one exists. You'll find it easier to reserve a seat this way.

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Buses vary widely from state to state, but there is often a choice of buses on the main routes - ordinary, express, semi-luxe, deluxe, deluxe air-con and even deluxe sleeper. Government buses are supplemented by private operators on many routes. Private buses tend to be faster, more expensive and more comfortable and can make a lot of sense on longer jaunts. Bus travel is generally crowded, cramped, slow and uncomfortable. This is the good news. The bad news is the rugby scrum you often need to negotiate in order to board, and the howling Hindi pop music which blares from the tinny speakers. Buses are the only way to get to Kashmir and the best way to get to Nepal from Uttar Pradesh; they are generally faster than trains in northern Bihar and in large areas of Rajasthan.

You can hire a car and driver very easily, but you need nerves of steel and excellent karma to consider driving yourself. Cars are usually rented on a daily basis and come with a limited number of kilometres per day. You'll probably be responsible for the driver's expenses, so be sure to clarify how much this is to be each day before you set off. If you're planning a long trip, it's wise to go for a short spin with your prospective driver just in case you don't like his braking ability.

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Motorcycling around India (especially on an Enfield Bullet) has become a popular pastime, though it's a hazardous endeavour and not for the amateur two-wheeler. Bicycles are a great way to get around towns and can usually be hired for a pittance. Long-distance touring, however, is not for the faint-hearted or the weak of knee. If you're thinking of bringing your own bike, think twice about bringing your state-of-the-art 10-speed unless you want it to be poked, probed and perved at every time you stop.

Local transport includes buses, taxis, auto-rickshaws, cycle-rickshaws and tongas (horse-drawn carriages). Taxis may have meters, but don't expect them to be working in more than a handful of cities. Three-wheeled auto-rickshaws are generally half the price of a taxi and allow much better passenger inhalation of diesel fumes. Cycle-rickshaws have all but disappeared from the centres of major Indian cities but are still an essential part of the transport network in smaller towns. Be sure to agree on a fare beforehand.

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Recommended Reading

For an insider's perceptive account of India's most colourful state, check out Royena Grewal's In Rajasthan, part of Lonely Planet's Journeys series.

Colonial literature includes Rudyard Kipling's Kim and Plain Tales from the Hills, and EM Forster's A Passage to India. The post-colonial Indian novel par excellence is Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, though Vikram Seth's suitcase-sized A Suitable Boy runs a close second. In the past decade, a swag of Indian authors writing in English have achieved international recognition. They include Rohinton Mistry, Shashi Tharoor and Arundhati Roy. The delightful novels of RK Narayan are evidence that Indian literary talent in English is nothing particularly new.

Worthy travelogues include Paul Theroux's The Great Railway Bazaar and Alexander Frater's delightful Chasing the Monsoon. William Dalrymple explored Delhi in City of Djinns and Geoffrey Moorhouse took the plunge in Calcutta in Calcutta - A City Revealed.

Commentaries on India almost form a publishing sub-genre of their own, and provide travellers with some of the best insights. They include VS Naipaul's acerbic An Area of Darkness and India - A Wounded Civilisation and the more mature A Million Mutinies Now; James Cameron's insightful An Indian Summer; Mark Tully's No Full Stops In India; and John Keay's Into India.

The two-volume Pelican History of India is a dry but comprehensive historical treatment. More readable accounts of specific chapters of Indian history include Christopher Hibbert's The Great Mutiny - India 1857, Plain Tales from the Raj edited by Charles Allen, Tariq Ali's The Nehrus & the Gandhis and the sensationalist potboiler Freedom at Midnight by Larry Collins & Dominique Lapierre.

The Hindu holy books, The Upanishads and The Bhagavad Gita are available in English translations. Hinduism by KM Sen is a blissfully brief and to-the-point introduction to India's major religion. A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology & Religion will help unravel who's who in the Hindu cosmology. Anyone tempted to don a dhoti and go looking for spiritual salvation will save themselves a lot of heartache by reading Gita Mehta's witty Karma Kola.

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