India Travel

Sound and light shows in Central New Delhi

Related Properties from Gurgaon

Cultural centres and libraries in Delhi

There is nearly always some cultural activity going on in Delhi - check at the tourist office, or get hold of local newspapers and publications like First City and Delhi Diary. Alliance Franchise, D13 NDSE Part II. Hosts film shows and has an art gallery. British Council, 17 Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Talks, film shows and concerts, plus a good library and reading room and internet. India International Centre, 40 Lodi Estate. Daily films, lectures, dance, and music performances; look up listings magazines or enquire by phone, Lalit Kala Akademi, Rabindra Bhavan, 35 Firoz Shah Rd. Delhi's premier art academy, with an extensive

Chandragiri Fort

In the sixteenth century, Chandragiri, 11 km southwest of Tirupati, became the third capital of the Vijayanagars, whose power had declined following the fall of the city of Vijayanagar (Hampi) in Karnataka. It was here that the British negotiated the acquisition of the land to establish Fort St George, the earliest settlement at what is now Chennai. The original fort, thought to date from c. 1000 AD, was taken over by Haider Ali in 1782, followed by the British in 1792. A small museum of sculpture, weapons and memorabilia is housed in the main building, the Indo-Saracenic Kaja Mahal. Another

Nightlife and entertainment in Delhi

The nightlife scene in Delhi is in full swing, with the advent of pubs and private nightclubs. During the week, the clubs are empty - stick to central restaurants and the well-stocked bars at up market hotels if you want some atmosphere. Come the weekend, though, bars are full by 9pm and clubs take of at midnight. Most clubs are in five-star hotels and operate couples-only policies at the door; women usually get in free, and men pay Rs400. Another option is to take an auto to India Gate and Rajpath any night after 8pm for a nightly people's party

Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad

At the northern end of Ashram Road, set beside sublime gardens, Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram (daily 7am-8.30pm; free) displays the Mahanna's letters and possessions, along with a powerful collection of photographs of his years of fighting for freedom. It was here that Gandhi lived in humble apartments from 1917 until 1930 and held meetings with weavers and Harijans as he helped them find security and re-establish the manual textile industry in Ahmedabad. In keeping with the man's uncluttered lifestyle, the collection of his personal property is modest but poignant - wooden shoes, white seamless clothes and a pair of round spectacles.

Arrival and information in Delhi

Delhi is India's main point of arrival for overseas visitors, and has two airports, one domestic and one international. State buses from all over the country pull into the Inter-state Bus Terminal in Old Delhi, while private buses stop in the more central location close to New Delhi railway station. Trains arrive at the railheads in Old or New Delhi, both well connected to Connaught Place, the commercial centre of the city, by rickshaw and taxi. For a summary of the kinds of accommodation available in different areas of the city, which may well determine where you head first, see p.

The Cave of Elephanta in Mumbai

Elephanta's impressive excavated eighth-century cave (9.30anM-pm; $5 [Rs5]), covering an area of approximately 5000 square metres, is reached by climbing more than one hundred steps to the top of the hill. Inside, the massive columns, carved from solid rock, give the deceptive impression of being structural. To the right, as you enter, note the panel of Nataraj, Shiva as the cosmic dancer.Though spoiled by the Portuguese who, it is said, used it tor target practice, the panel remains magnificent; Shiva's face is rapt, and in one of his left hands he removes the veil of ignorance. Opposite is a badly

Andhra Pradesh Guided tours

India Touring operates a number of guided tours. All times quoted below are when the tours set off from the Secunderabad office; pick-up time in Hyderabad is 45 min later. The better of the two city tours (daily 8am-5.15pm; Rs130) includes Husain Sagar, the Birla temple and planetarium, Qutb Shahi tombs (not Fri), Salar Jung Museum (not Fri), Charminar and Golconda. There are also shorter morning and afternoon city tours and one to Golconda Fort's sound and light show (daily 4.15-9.15pm); Rs 100 including entrance fee), which also drives past Hi-Tech City. Ramoji Film City, 35km south, also has its own

Central New Delhi

The modern area of CENTRAL NEW DELHI, with its wide tree-lined avenues and solid colonial architecture, has been the seat of central government since 1931. At its hub. the royal mall. Rajpath. runs from palatial Rashtrapati Bhavan, in the west, to the India Gate war memorial in the east. At the north edge of the new capital lies the thriving business centre, Connaught Place. where neon advertisements for Wimpy, American Express, hotels and countless airline offices adorn the flat roofs and colonnaded verandas of high white buildings that curve around a central park to form an almost perfect circle. Central New

Thirumalai Nayak Palace in Central Tamil Nadu

Roughly a quarter survives of the seventeenth-century Thirumalai Nayak Palace (daily 9am-lpm & 2-5pm), 1.5km southeast of the Meenakshi Temple. Much of it was dismantled by Thirumalai's grandson, Chockkanatha Nayak, and used for a new palace at Tiruchirapalli. What remains today, was renovated in 1858 by the governor of Chennai, Lord Napier, and again in 1971 for the Tamil World Conference. The palace originally consisted of two residential sections, plus a theatre, private temple, harem, royal bandstand, armoury and gardens. The surviving building, the Swargavilasa ("Heavenly Pavilion"), is a rectangular courtyard, flanked by 18m-tall colonnades. As well as occasional live performances

Nayak Durbar Hall Art Museum and Rajaraja Cholan Museum in Central Tamil Nadu

The Rajaraja Cholan Museum (same hours) houses Chola stone sculpture and small objects excavated at Gangaikondacholapuram such as tiny marbles, games boards, bangles and terracotta pieces. Two illuminated maps show the remarkable extent of the Chola empire under the great kings Rajaraja I and his son, Rajendra 1.Towering over these buildings is the Nayak-period arsenal, cunningly designed to resemble a temple gopura, with fine views of Thanjavur from the top. A magnificent collection of Chola bronzes - the finest of them from the Tiruvengadu hoard unearthed in the 1950s - fills the Nayak Durbar Hall Art Museum (daily 9am-lpm & 2-5pm;

Cave 1 of Ajanta in Maharashtra

Cave 1 contains some of the finest and stylistically most evolved paintings on the site. By the rime work on it began, late in the fifth century, viharas served not only to shelter and feed the monks, but also as places of worship in their own right - hence the addition to the rows of cells lining the front and side walls of a central shrine room. In common with most Mahayana viharas, the extraordinary murals lining the walls and ceilings depict episodes from the birth story and former lives of the Buddha, the jalakas. One of the most elaborate

Cinemas in Delhi

After gloriously hyped releases. Bollywood movie make their way to the capital where there is passionate enthusiasm for burly heroes and red-lipped maidens. If you're interested in enjoying a classic Indian experience, the best cinemas to head for are the Regal, Odeon and Plaza in Connaught Place. All show popular films with the compulsory goodies and baddies, a generous dose of manly courage and shy love, much singing and dancing, and happy endings. An alternative branch of Bollywood has recently emerged, producing films in English that ooze attitude, with sex scenes and lots of designer wear. Suburban cinemas, such as the

Eating of Madhya Pradesh

Restaurants in Bhopal's larger hotels serve uniformly spicy north Indian food with a few Continental and Chinese dishes thrown in for good measure; the strip-light-and-formica cafes opposite the bus stand do thalis and hot platefuls of siibzi, rice and dhal for next to nothing. For breakfast try the state's favourite food, poha — a light steamed rice dish served piping hot in newspaper from every street corner, followed by their famous katchor is (a tried snack stuffed with lentils) and a chai. Stalls in New Market serve big glasses of frothy fresh juice, and there are lots oi cheap fruit

Cave 15 of Ellora in Maharashtra

Like its neighbour, the two-storeyed Cave 15, reached via a long flight of steps, began life as a Buddhist vihara but was hijacked by the Hindus and became a Shiva shrine. Skip the largely uninteresting ground floor, and make for the upper level to find some of Ellora s most magnificent sculpture. The cave's name, Das Avatara, is derived from the sequence of panels along the right wall, which show five of Vishnu's ten incarnations (avatars). The one nearest the entrance shows Vishnu in his fourth manifestation as the Man-Lion, Narashima, which he adopted to slay a demon that

Mylapore in Tamil Nadu

Long before Madras came into existence, Mylapore, south of the Marina (reached by buses #4, #5 or #21 from the LIC building on Anna Salai), was a major settlement; the Greek geographer Ptolemy mentioned it in the second century AD as a thriving port. During the Pallava period (fifth to ninth centuries) itwas second only to Mamallapuram. An important stop - with Little Mount and St Thomas Mount - on the St Thomas pilgrimage trail, San Thome Cathedral (daily 6am-8pm) marks the eastern boundary of Mylapore, lying close to the sea at the southern end of the Marina. Although the present

Kathakali in Kochi in Kerala

Kochi is the only city in the state where you are guaranteed the chance to see live Kathakali, the uniquely Keralan form of ritualized theatre. Whether in its authentic setting, in temple festivals held during the winter, or at the shorter tourist-oriented shows that take place year round, these mesmerizing dance dramas are an unmissable feature of Kochi's cultural life. Four venues in the city hold daily recitals. Beginning at 6.30pm, the hour-long shows are preceded by an introductory talk. You can also watch the dancers being made-up if you arrive an hour or so early. Tickets cost Rs100 and can

The lighthouses and the Mahishasuramardini Cave in Tamil Nadu

At the highest point in an area of steep paths, unfinished temples, ruins, scampering monkeys and massive rocks, south of Arjuna's Penance, the New Lighthouse affords fine views east to the Shore Temple, and west across paddy fields and flat lands littered with rocks. Next to it, the Olakanesvara ("flame-eyed" Shiva), or Old Lighthouse Temple, used as a lighthouse until the beginning of the twentieth century, dates from the Rajasimha period (674-800 AD) and contains no image. Nesding between the two lighthouses is the Mahishasuramardini Cave, whose central image portrays Shiva and Parvati with the child Murugan seated on Parvati's lap.

Buses in Delhi

Despite running more than three hundred different routes, the Delhi Transport Corporation's vast centralized bus network can seem totally inadequate. The Latest Guide to Delhi, Old, and New (published by Lai Chand and Sons; Rs10) is in English and has the most comprehensive DTC bus route listings available. You can buy it from magazine vendors in Connaught Place or Paharganj. The first digit of each three-digit route number shows the direction of each bus — thus routes starting with "5" head south from the centre towards Mehrauli, and those starting with "4" travel southeast towards Kalkaji through Nizamuddin, while those

Dzomsa laundry in Ladakh

Situated on a strategic corner between Upper Thaka Road and Old Fort Road at one end of the market square, the Dzomsa Laundry provides a vital service in ecology-sound washing, using biodegradable detergent and water at a safe distance from habitation. Dzottna, which Literally means "'meeting point", also serves delicious fresh apricot juice which you can drink while sitting outside watching the world go by. If you're wondering what to do with your empty mineral water bottles, you can recycle them here and have them filled with safe drinking water.

Khirki-ki-Masjid in South Delhi

Firoz Shah's Khirki-ki-Masjid, "The Mosque of Windows", famous for its heavy stone lattice windows, lies in the middle of one of South Delhi's villages close to the site of jahanpanah, Delhi's fourth city, 4km east of Qutb Minar and 13km south of Connaught Place. The battered bastions of the squat double-storeyed mosque, flanked by short minarets, give it a fortress-like aspect. Its unusual roof- there are only two covered mosques in north India - consisting of 25 squares capped by domes and flat sections, is open at the centre to allow light into a dark pillared courtyard, plagued by bats.