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Taking the roads much travelled India's Best Destinations
It presents some unheard of places. Just about every man-made marvel finds mention. It is the little-known ones that make this book a delight for the arm-chair traveller and a very useful compendium for a traveller who has done the Delhi-Jaipur-Agra circuit and wants to see the magnificence that was India and still exists today off the beaten path. Ever heard of Rawla Narlai? Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones thought it was "Such a wonderful place!". The 17th century heritage hotel is owned by fashion designer Raghuvendra Singh Rathore's family. Did you know, Kumbalgarh Fort has a 36-km-long wall, the longest in India and second only to the Great Wall of China ? Bhimbetka, 50 km from Bhopal, is a treasure trove of cave paintings that are 98,000 years old. The paintings date back to the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods and have much in common with the rock paintings in Tanzania, aboriginal paintings in Australia and the Kalahari Desert paintings by the pygmies in Namibia. Figure that one out. There are stunning photographs of the Ranakpur temple. Set in a jungle and hills, the outstanding piece of this architecture in white marble are the 1.444 pillars. No two pillars are the same. Khajuraho, a 1000-year-old temple, the most sensuous and erotic temple in the world with explicit photographs, finds mention. The Sun Temple of Konark, a massive edifice in stone is best described by Rabindranath Tagore, "The language of man here is defeated by the language of stone!" The Buddhist Monastery at Tabo, also over a 1,000 years old, is referred to as the "Ajanta of the Himalayas". Indeed, definitely one of the hundred destinations.
A more contemporary temple but just as important is the Golden Temple in Amritsar, The living magnificence of India is of course the wildlife parks. Bhandavgarh, Kanha, which inspired Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book, Manas in Assam, Corbett named after Jim Corbett, the shikari-turned- conservationist. The Ranthambore, Panna national parks are part of the 100 Destinations. Backwaters of Kerala, the moonscape of Ladakh, the vale of Kashmir and it's unique shikaras, the sun, sand, sea and churches of Goa are also amongst the 100 Destinations. Content is expansive, accurate and personal. The coffee table book will become a bedside table book. The layout is selective and the photographs superb. Bob has used the works of half a dozen photographers from India and abroad. The images are stunning and the quality of printing is excellent, there is no shift of colour or bleeding. A special feature of the book is that each topic is colour coded. The titles for mountains is green, wildlife is brown, heritage is red, coastal is blue and leisure is pale blue. The font for the titles is good, the font for the text could have been more reader-friendly. For each destination there is a "getting-there" box which gives directions, distance, travel time with a "Top Tip". Very helpful, like in the case of Lucknow - "Checkout the nautch girls, it's very entertaining !" Bob has taken the roads much travelled (over a million kilometres in three decades) been there, seen it, photographed it and written about it. I recalled Bing Crosby's song, "Those far away places with strange sounding names". These places are not far away, nor are the names that strange. With the new breed of cars we have and the roads improving, a trip to anyone of these places will be a wonderful experience.
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Not
many people have a job that is suited to their disposition. Bob Rupani
does. He loves driving and loves the wide open spaces that India has,
from the jungles to the mountains, the desert to the seas. The space
is sprinkled liberally with temples, palaces, caves and ancient
monuments whose architecture delights and defies definition. India is
a haven for tourists, it caters to every individual taste, whim and
fancy. Bob Rupani's latest book India's 100 Best Destinations is
a gem in itself.
