North India covers a great swathe of South Asia, seducing travelers with its infinite contrasts.
In the cities of North India boisterous crowds jostle past and newcomers attract plenty of stares. Colors and voices are loud. So are the sound systems of the temples and the mosques. The place can be fascinating and infuriating in turn.
The landscape goes to extremes - sand dunes in the Thar desert compete with glaciers glittering on distant peaks. Craggy Himalayan provinces loom over the plains, and the roads are under constant repair from the onslaught of monsoon rains or searing temperatures. Colonial cities are still slightly haunted by memories of the Sepoy Uprising and the Nawabs. Gung-ho adventure tourists try to tame the rapids of snowmelt rivers while pilgrims seek the source of the Ganga. At Varanasi a multitude swirls away the ashes of its dead in the green waters where blind river dolphins swim like torpedoes.
There are people milling everywhere. Uttar Pradesh (UP), the most populous state, is right in the middle of what is known as the Cow Belt. This is not particularly a cattle-raising zone (though you may often see stolid black water buffalo lolling on the wayside). It is the heartland of the Holy Cow, the conservative Hindu stronghold, as well as being a bastion of Muslim culture.
Punjab, closer to Pakistan, is home to proud Sikhs and prosperous Jat farmers. Radiating around Ladakh and in high Himalayan valleys, refugee Tibetan communities maintain their rituals and traditional dress. India’s elite enrols its children in up-country boarding schools, well away from the distractions of the city.
Despite satellite TV, North India resists an overwhelming sameness. Delhi is grand with monuments and its buzz as the seat of government, as well as its mosques or bazaars. Rajasthan provides a spectacle of camels, veiled women and enormous turbans. Polo is played on elephant-back while peacocks flutter the eyes in their tails.
Jammu and Kashmir’s heartbreaking beauty is defined by lakes, orchards and snowy peaks, while Agra is home to the Taj Mahal, one of the world’s great monuments to love.
