India

India is a place of majestic mountains and beautiful beaches, royal palaces and ancient temples, architectural wonders and culinary delight. A place of colours, sounds, sights and smells that dazzle and astound the senses.

A place of life! Namaste.

A budget backpackers dream come true, with countless things to do and regions to experience, India is always ready to spring a surprise. Fast metropolitan cities and slow mellow villages. People everywhere or a secluded undiscovered untouched place.

The land of Osho, Buddhist Monasteries, Spiritual Ashrams, Yoga, Ayurveda and a number of languages.

Not to forget Bollywood movies, exotic dances, spicy Indian food. A full meal for less than a dollar. Curry, the original way- before it became hip and upmarket. Spicy Indian Junk food or the ideal balanced meal.

Ski in Auli, run among golden corn fields and dine at a dhaba in Punjab, take a Camel Ride through the desert and live in a Palace in Rajasthan, attend a Classical dance or music concert in Tamil Nadu. Leave behind the stress and get an Ayurvedic massage and go down the backwaters in Kerala. Spend a day or two in the beautiful Manali. Go trekking across Ladakh and Leh and be humbled by the Himalayas. See the numerous forts and relive moments of history. Live the easy life in Mumbai and Delhi, party or relax on the turquoise beaches at Goa. Take a dip in the holy waters of Varanasi or see the erotic sculptures of Khajurao. fancy a yoga lesson at Rishikesh?

Come, explore and live India.

Intoxicating, exhilarating and overwhelming. You will not leave unaffected.

Demographics of India

India occupies 2.4% of the world's land area and supports over 17.5% of the world's population.As per the 2001 census, 72.2% of the population lives in about 638,000 villages and the remaining 27.8 lives in more than 5,100 towns and over 380 urban agglomerations.

Religion

80.5% of the Indians are Hindus, with 13.4% of the population Muslim, making India home to the third-largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia and Pakistan. India also contains the majority of the world's Zoroastrians, Sikhs, Jains and Bahá'í. Other religious groups include Christians (2.3%), Buddhists (0.8%), Jains (0.4%), and Jews.

Languages

40% of the Hindus speak Hindi while the rest speak Bangla, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada and other languages. Almost 70% of the Muslims speak Urdu while the rest speak Kashmiri, Telugu, Bangla, Malayalam, Tamil, Gujarati and other languages. About one-third of the Christians speak Malayalam, one-sixth speak Tamil while the rest speak a variety of languages. In total, there are 1,652 languages and dialects spoken in India.

Age structure:

• 0–14 years: 30.8%, male: 188,208,196, female: 171,356,024
• 15–64 years: 64.3%, male: 386,432,921, female: 364,215,759
• 65+ years: 4.9%, male: 27,258,259, female: 30,031,289 (2007 est.)
• The median age of Indians is 25.1 years

Literacy rate

• 79.9%

Percent of the population under the poverty line

• 22% (2006 est.)

Unemployment Rate

• 7.8%

Reference

http://www.censusindia.net/

The Idiots Guide on Indian Customs or Indian Customs 101

Posts about Etiquette

Posts about What to Wear and Women in india

Tips for Women Travelers

Indian Proverbs

Some information on Indian Visas

Indian Visas

Indian Visa extensions

Indian Visas (US travelers)

Information for Indian Travellers abroad

Backpacking through Europe for Indians

Visa information for travelling out of India for Indian Passport holders

Some guide to navigating the Indian Railways

Important web addresses:

Great site for planning and booking

http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/

For Booking tickets online

Thread on CS on the Railways

How do you Book a ticket on Indian Railways website

Description of the 8 classes of accommodation on Indian trains.

Some discussion on trains in India

Train - Agra to Mumbai

City travel guides

A very good site to get transportation options for cities wikitravel. Check out these examples: Agra, Delhi

City and country travelguides

India [1]WritingTravellers a online world guidebook in wikipedia style, which can be modified by anyone, it is also available in pdf to registered users.

Delhi [2]

For more city specific information search [www.writingtravellers.com]

Rural India

According to census 2001 the 72.2% population constitutes Rural India.The soul of India lives in its villages declared M.K.Gandhi.

Couchsurfing in India

There is a fast growing community of CouchSurfers in India.

Cities which have Wiki updated information - Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Cochin, Kolkata, Jamnagar, Bhubaneshwar, Varanasi States which have Wiki updated information Goa, Ladakh

Chandigarh, Puri, Rajasthan - Work in progress

Suggested Destinations in India

North India

Rajasthan Fair & Festivals

Camel safari in India

Delhi] (Capital of India) Delhi has many places to see specially Old Delhi which was built centuries ago. Amritsar (Golden temple fame) Agra (Taj Mahal fame) Varnasi (For a Ganges experience) Gangtok in Sikkim (North East Himalayas]

States to visit:

Rajasthan- Deserts and Palaces and a cultural treat. Why not attend the famous Pushkar festival?

Himachal Pradesh- winter and adventure tourism)

Uttarakhand- Haridwar and Rishikesh

Uttranchal- Himalayas and Hindu Pilgrimmage

Jammu & Kashmir and Sikkim- For unspoiled beauty. Valley of Flowers, Rhododendrons, Orchids and home of the 3rd highest mountain in the world - Kanchenjunga, and many trekking routes.

Interesting threads on CS regarding India

Delhi

West Bengal

Kerala

Kutch

MANALI - LEH - LADAKH - KARGIL - DRASS - TIGER HILLS - SRINAGAR

Agra and surrounds

Uttaranchal or Uttarakhand

Andamans

Books on India

More Books on India

Money in India

Goa. India with a Portuguese flavour or Goa: the other side

Totally off the tourist tracks

Sangrol

Chail

Off beat in Kerala

Food in India

Okay, now we are talking. This is such an amazing maze, that you can do a whole trip of India just on the several several culinary delights that the various corners of this country has to offer. Here are some for you.

• Street Food of India

Indian Spices