hill statioin--tourist lodge
tourist lodges at hill station.
India (
Hindi:
भारत), is the largest country in the
Indian Subcontinent and shares borders with
Pakistan to the west,
China and
Nepal to the north,
Bhutan to the north-east, and
Bangladesh and
Myanmar to the east.
Sri Lanka lies to the south,
Maldives to the south-west and
Indonesia to the south-east of India in the
Indian Ocean.
It is an extremely diverse country, with vast differences in geography, climate, culture, language and ethnicity across its expanse, and prides itself on being the largest democracy on
Earth.
Mountains, jungles, deserts and beaches, India has it all. It is bounded to the north and northeast by the snow-capped
Himalayas, the tallest mountain range in the world. In addition to protecting the country from invaders, they also feed the perennial rivers
Ganga, Yamuna (
Jamuna) and
Sindhu (
Indus) on whose plains India's civilization flourished. Though most of the Sindhu is in Pakistan now, three of its tributaries flow through
Punjab. The other Himalayan river, the
Brahmaputra flows through the northeast, mostly through
Assam.
South of Punjab lies the
Aravalli range which cuts
Rajasthan into two. The western half of Rajasthan is occupied by the
Thar desert. The
Vindhyas cut across
Central India, particularly through
Madhya Pradesh and
The
Deccan plateau is bounded by the
Sahyadri (
Western Ghats) range to the west and the
Eastern Ghats to the east. The plateau is more arid than the plains, as the rivers that feed the area, such as the Narmada,
Godavari and the
Kaveri run dry during the summer. Towards the northeast of the Deccan plateau is what used to be a thickly forested area called the Dandakaranya which covers the states of
Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, the eastern edge of
Maharashtra and the northern tip of
Andhra Pradesh.
India has a long coastline.
The west coast borders the
Arabian Sea and the east coast the
Bay of Bengal, both parts of the Indian Ocean.
There are three national holidays:
Republic Day (
26 January),
Independence Day (
15 August), and
Gandhi Jayanti (2 October) which occur on the same day every year. In addition, there are three major nationwide festivals with shifting dates to be aware of:
Holi, in February or March — The festival of colour is a major festival celebrated mainly in
North, East and
Western India. On the first day, people go to temples and light bonfires, but on the second, it's a waterfight combined with showers of coloured powder.
Durga Puja /
Navarathri/Dussehara, Sep-Oct — A nine-day festival culminating in the holy day of Dasara,. In some places like
West Bengal, Durga Puja is the most important festival. In the north Dussehara celebrations take place and the slaying of Ravana by
Lord Rama is ceremonially reenacted as Ram
Lila. In
Gujarat and
South India, it is celebrated as Navarathri where the festival is celebrated by dancing to devotional songs and religious observances like fasts extended over a period
Diwali (
Deepavali), Oct-Nov — The festival of lights, celebrates the return of Lord Rama to the capital of his kingdom,
Ayodhya after an exile of 14 years.f
Christmas combined.
Apart from these, each state has its own major national festival like Onam for
Kerala or Sankranti for Andhra Pradesh or
Pongal for
Tamil Nadu or Baisakhi for Punjab, which is celebrated as public holiday in respective states.Himalayan
North (
Jammu and Kashmir,
Himachal Pradesh,
Uttarakhand)
The Plains (
Bihar,
Chandigarh,
Delhi,
Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar
The country's capital Delhi is here. The rivers Ganga and Yamuna flow through this plain. Many of the events that shaped India's history took place in this region.
Western India (
Dadra and Nagar Haveli,
Daman and Diu, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra,
Miles and miles of the
Thar Desert.
Home to the colorful palaces, forts and cities of Rajasthan, the country's most vibrant and biggest city
Mumbai (formerly known as
Bombay), Goa and Bollywood.
Southern India (
Andaman and Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Kerala,
Lakshadweep,
Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu)
South India features famous and historical temples, tropical forests, backwaters, beaches hill stations, and the vibrant cities of
Bangalore,
Kochi,
Chennai and
Hyderabad.
The island groups of
Andaman & Nicobar (on the east) and Lakshadweep on the west are included in this region for convenience, but they are far from the mainland and have their own unique characteristics.
Eastern India (Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,
Odisha,
Sikkim, West Bengal)
. Features
Kolkata (formerly known as
Calcutta), once the capital of
British India, and the temple cities of
Puri,
Bhubaneswar and
Konark.t
North-Eastern India (
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,
Manipur,
Meghalaya,
Mizoram,
Nagaland,
Tripura)
Source :::
http://wikitravel.org/en/India