India Attractions

Calcutta is Kolkata

Advantages: many connection
Disadvantages: crowdy, no facilities for passengers

...our luggage. staff is friendly though over loaded. Calcutta has many connected flights for eastern part and north eastern part of India. Any holiday to north east India has almost unavoidable stop over at Calcutta. So it is better to get ready for crowdy and mismanaged airport before landing there. ...

imwhoever 14.09.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Calcutta Airport (CCU)

High Kicks and High Jinks on the Border

Advantages: As ceremonies go, it's unique
Disadvantages: It's not the photographic spectacle that many people want and it goes on a very long time.

The daily flag lowering ceremony at the Wagah border crossing between India and Pakistan is one of the world's most bizarre displays of mutual dislike combined with pure theatre and is a great example of nationalism and pride. Every day, come rain or shine, war or peace, the border guards of India and Pakistan go through the motions of closing the gates that join the two countries, under the watchful eyes and with the loud support of thousands of ...
...by Michael Palin in his Himalaya series and was included in Sanjeev Bhaskar's India series a couple of years ago. Where is it and how do you get there? The closest town to Wagah from the Indian side is Amritsar and from the Pakistan side it's Lahore. We visited the border whilst staying in Amritsar and, since there's not really a great deal to do in the town, a trip to the flag lowering ceremony is considered by most visitors as one of the ...

koshkha 31.03.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Wagha Border Ceremony, Amritsar

90 Years on - Remember the dead of Jallianwala Bagh

Advantages: Very moving and important monument
Disadvantages: Can leave you feeling rather uncomfortable

An Apology Normally I wouldn't dream of posting a review on more than one site on the same day but this time I've planned to do so for many months in order to draw attention to an anniversary that I believe will go unmarked in our country. Nobody likes to be reminded of the sins of the past but in the case of this anniversary, I want to pick at the scab of history and remind people of one of the most shameful days of British history. April ...
...Massacre. We visited Amritsar in November 2007 and Jallianwala Bagh (or Jallianwala Gardens) has been in my mind ever since. The gardens and memorial at Jallianwala Bagh are one of the most moving places I've ever been and had a profound impact on my understanding of the Indian Independence movement. The primary reason that any tourist goes to Amritsar is to see the Golden Temple and for most people it's a quick in and out and then they move ...

koshkha 13.04.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Jallianwallah Bagh Memorial, Amritsar

Pooh meets India's Thomas the Tank Engine

Advantages: It's fun, it's cheap and you get cups of free tea
Disadvantages: It's cramped, uncomfortable and can get a bit boring

Background *********** In the days when the British ruled India there were many problems for an expatriated Brit to contend with but one of the most serious was the heat. The average chap sent out to make his fortune or defend his nation's economic and political interests wasn't bred to deal with saturation humidity and thermometer-bursting temperatures. To cope with these extremes, each summer the government, civil service and everyone with the ...
...and literally 'head for the hills'. Many so-called 'hill stations' provided respite from the summer heat but Shimla (or Simla) and in 1864 the city became the official Summer Capital of the British and took on the mantle of the 'Queen of the Hill Stations'. Located up at around 7000 feet in altitude, Shimla offered cool temperatures even in the midst of the summer. It was also a pretty good place to send the ladies (imagine 50 degrees C in corsets ...

koshkha 05.01.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Kalka-Shimla Railway, India

Looking Down my Nose at One-fifth of Humanity

Advantages: Spectacular building of immense historical significance
Disadvantages: Quite honestly, it's pug-ugly

...tell you that one of the top attractions in the Himalayan city of Shimla is the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, a place so rarefied that it takes only a few dozen students, all of them doing post-doctoral studies into esoteric topics that few of us would understand, then you'd probably think: A - I was wrong B - I was lying C - Shimla must be a pretty dull place. To be fair, I'm being a bit dismissive - the IIAS takes only students who are ...
...years ago that makes it the major draw that it is. Today's dull and fusty academic institute was once the place from which one fifth of humanity was ruled for 7 months of the year. The IIAS occupies a building that was built as the summer residence of the Viceroy of India. It was, in short, the Viceregal Lodge. What's a Viceroy? ********************* After the Indian Mutiny of 1857-58, the rule of the East India Company came to an end and direct ...

koshkha 25.03.2008 · Read full review
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Review of The Viceregal Lodge, Shimla