Our final destination on this 'North India Unplugged' tour is Kolkata. Formerly known as Calcutta this city was originally established by English merchants as a trading post then later evolved into the capital of the British Indian Empire. We pulled into a rainy Kolkata railway station at 11am - it was supposed to be 8am but you know IST. The rain continued for the rest of the day, so much so that Indian version of 'The Independent' newspaper had photos of a flo...

We stepped out of the station at Varanasi and the first thing I saw was a ghost of a woman sitting helplessly on the floor. She was emaciated, probably looked much older then she was, had matted hair and wasn't really wearing a top as such. My heart broke, I could only start to imagine what her life is like and what she has been through. Really poverty is such a massive issue in India I don't know where you'd start! We were collected at the station by a jovial c...

Agra is known as the 'City of Love' as it is home to the Taj Mahal, a beautiful mauseleum built by Shah Jahan for his favourite (yes I did say favourite!) wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child. Our accommodation was in a brilliant location right next door to the east gate of the Taj but, as with any silver lining, it did mean that to get anywhere we had to contend with local shopkeepers hounding us all the way up the road. Our room wasn't ...

Comfortably seated in our private tourist bus we thought our journey to Jaipur would pass event free, how wrong were we - well this is incredible India ! A lorry driving down the wrong carriageway forced us into a ditch which incensed our driver so much he did a u-turn and set off in pursuit whilst his co-driver took out an iron bar and hung out of the passenger door. Sensing imminent danger and probably blood it was only through the gentle persuasion of another ...

With 550 temples Pushkar is one of hinduisms holiest towns. It is said that Lord Brahma, the creator of the universe, did battle with the demon, Vajra Nabh, and slew him with a lotus blossom. A petal fell from his hand and landed on earth thus creating the Thirtharaj lake in Pushka. Many Hindus come to bathe in the lake believing it will wash away their sins and earn them a place in heaven. Armed with romantic notions of a beautiful, magical place full of pilgrim...