about India
INDIA
The vast continent of India is separated from the mainland of Asia by the Himalayas in the north and bounded on the three sides by the sea, occupying an area of 2031840 Sq.km.
India is two-third the size of Great Britain. From the sub-tropics in the south, their continent stretches for 3200 km. in the cold hear of Asia in the north and extends over nearly 2400 km. from Kathiawar in the west to Assam in the east. India is a land of river and streams, mountains, plateaus and forests of every kind. The river Ganga and the Yamuna and their many tributaries water its northern plains, the cradle of Aryan civilization in India. The mighty Brahmaputra flows through Assam in the northeast. The Narmada, the Tapti, The Mahanadi, The Godawari, and the Krishna are some of the other great rivers which have sustained the people of India through the ages.
India’s civilization is one of the world’s oldest dating back to the end of the third millennium of the beginning of the fourth millennium B.C. they found a highly developed urban civilization in the country which was much superior to their own. The cities were well planned, with wide roads, sanitary drainage baths, and granaries, while the houses were built of burnt bricks. Writing and the techniques of working metals were known to the people. Out of the inter-mingling of the Aryan with the pre-Aryan Culture of India developed the three great religions, namely, Vedic Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism and their systems of philosophy. On the material side; the visible symbols of the Country’s achievement were the great temples, monasteries, sculpture, and frescoes which still attract visitors from many lands.
Even in the earliest period, India had trade relations with far of countries such as Babylonia. Later it's market for raw material and industrial products extended as far as Egypt and the Roman empire in the west and China in the east. Its culture spread to all neighboring countries such as Central Asia, Afghanistan. Persia, Ceylon, Indonesia, Burma, and China. Islam came to India through the Arab traders and invaders in the eighth century.
India is one of the most fertile and thickly populated countries in the world with a population of 350 million representing one-seventh of the human race and is only second to China. This population is a great racial mosaic. A variety of customs and costumes are obtained in the Country.
The Indian Republic comprises twenty-two states which are democratically administered. Some of the units are larger than Great Britain or Italy. Besides, there are nine centrally administered territories, covering only 2 percent of India’s populations. At the head of the Republic is the President.
The executive authority vests in a council of Ministers responsible for Parliament which under the new Constitution will consist of an Upper house and a Lower house. The Lower house or the house of People will be elected on the basis of adult franchise. The states save those administered directly by the center, have constitutional heads who are assisted by the Councils of Ministers responsible to the local legislature.
Hindi is the state language of India, but English is understood by all educated people everywhere. Many of the tourist guide books, newspapers, journals, airline, and railway time tables are published in English.
Almost all the religions of the world are represented in the country. Hinduism is the predominant religion, counts 240 million people among its adherents. The remaining Population Muslims are about 40 million and Christians, Sikhs, Jain Buddhists, Parsis, and Jews are among the other religious groups.
All the important places in India are well connected by rail road and air. The country has its own standard time, Indian standard time which is 51/2 hours in advance of the G.M.T
SEASON
India has a variety of climate some of the hottest, the coldest, the driest and wettest regions of the world are to be found here. The three main seasons that obtain in the most part of the country are the branching cold weather extending from October to the end of February, the hot weather from March to the middle of June and the rainy weather from the middle of June to the end of September, when the monsoons from the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal burst over the Gangetic plain, its dry, parched land is transformed into an expanse of glistening verdure.
CLOTHING
Every traveler must equip himself with clothes suitable for both cold and warm weather. Rugs and overcoats are necessary. During the day Solar Caps should always be worn to prevent sunstroke. During winter the cold of the nights and the mornings are sharp and the traveler should carefully cover himself. Thin or tropical clothing should be worn during midday, when it is warm and also use glare glasses and umbrellas, whenever he is out in the sun.
WHAT INDIA OFFERS TO THE TOURIST
No region in the world is more colorful or picturesque than India. Its ancient monuments and buildings designed by master craftsmen of bygone days, its customs, festivals, religions, philosophy, and art testify to one of the oldest and richest civilizations and are of absorbing interest. To the lover of nature, the botanist and the naturalist India offer every charm in forest Mountain, valley, cultivated plain or desert waste.
For the sportsman, India furnishes sport such as few countries do: Tiger, panther, bear, elephant, buffalo, and bison in the forest, Trout, and mahseer in the rivers, the wily snipe, and the strong –winged duck on the jheels, and the quick-turning pig in the jungles and of course racing, polo, golf, Cricket, Tennis, Sea-bathing and even winter sports. To the mountaineer, the Himalayas offer the highest mountains in the world, with their many famous peaks which have not yet been scaled.
The art collector and souvenir-hunter will reap a good harvest in this country. India’s arts and crafts have always been prized abroad. As instinctive feelings for beauty, infinite patience and the accumulated experience of centuries enable the Indian craft man to produce goods of rare excellence and design. Kashmir is justly renowned for the exquisite patterns and colors of its hand-embroidered shawls.
The brocades of Banaras and Murshidabad, The jewelry of Delhi and Jaipur, the ivories of Mysore and Kerala, the inland metalware of Moradabad and Hyderabad, the glass bangles of Firozabad and the leather goods of Madras are some of the infinite varieties of Indian Crafts which appeal to the eye and satisfy the aesthetic sense of connoisseur and layman alike.
Rivaling the country’s ancient monuments, arts and crafts is the fascinating spectacle of India’s resurgent people, striving to achieve progress and prosperity. Rural India is undergoing a silent revolution under the Programme of community development. New factories are fast coming up and the country’s mineral deposits are being surveyed and tapped. Three giant steel plants are being set up to fashion tools for the nation. India’s rivers are being harnessed to provide water for the farmer’s fields and power for factories. One of the well-known river valley projects is the Bhakra-Nangal scheme with the highest dam in the world. Another is the Damodar Valley Corporation, patterned after the Tennessee Valley Authority of the U.S.A. It comprises a chain of dams and a barrage. Scores of new townships are coming up to cope with the rapid urbanization of the population. One of them is Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab, designed and built by European and Indian architects under the inspired leadership of Le Corbusier.
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