Last three times, I went north and south

I am starting now to plan my winter 2010 India trip itinerary. I will, of course, be actively blogging while I am in India from the end of January until about mid-April, so I hope you will subscribe. Also planning to add video to my blog this winter — they are so many colourful festivals, events, street scenes and other highly photogenic things going on in India at any given moment. I am already anticipating catching video of the Khajuraho Dance Festival, street scenes in Mumbai (Bombay) and Kolkata (Calcutta), the sunrise over the Himalayas in Darjeeling and who knows what else.

I am hoping to connect with Indian writers and bloggers while I am in India, so please send me an email, make a comment or tweet me at @breathedreamgo if you want to arrange a “tweet-up” — a meeting.

This time, I am going east and west

My itinerary for India as it currently stands is to fly into Delhi at the end of January and spend about seven days there, recovering from jet lag, visiting friends and doing research. I would like to meet other writers and bloggers — as well as publishers and editors — in Delhi. There are some great English language magazines and newspapers published in Delhi, such as Outlook Traveller from the Outlook publishing group; and Discover India an Swagat from Media Tran Asia.

From Delhi I will be flying to Bangalore for a week to research and write a cover article for Discover India Magazine, and from there I fly to Goa. I have finally decided to visit Goa! Really, I just want to lie on the beach for a few days, relaxing and recovering from the hustle-and-bustle of Silicone City.

Really looking forward to finally visiting Mumbai. So many people I know love Mumbai and say it is the most fun city in India. I have already met a couple of Bollywood actors and Indo-Canadian writers who will be in Mumbai, and I am hoping to connect with other Mumbai based-writers and bloggers, so I am looking forward to having fun and seeing the city with locals. Planning to be there for at least a week, and catching the Mumbai Travel Expo while I’m there.

After Mumbai I am planning to go to either Kanha N.P. or Bandavgargh N.P. — these parks are apparently the two best places to see tigers in India. Kanha is the place where Rudyard Kipling set The Jungle Book.

I have to be in Khajuraho for the magical Khajuraho Dance Festival at the end of February. The best classical dancers in India gather to dance in front of the ancient temples as the sun sets. Incredible! India indeed.

In March I will be going to Kolkata and from there to Darjeeling and Sikkim. I have a feeling I am going to like Kolkata, in spite of its notorious reputation for crowds, poverty and damp heat. I am very attracted to Bengali culture and the appreciation they have for the arts. Currently, I am reading Calcutta by Geoffrey Moorehouse, which traces the improbable history of India’s third-largest city.

In Darjeeling, I will be staying at the historic Windamere Hotel. I want to watch the sunrise over the Himalayas on my birthday and visit tea plantations. I love tea, especially Darjeeling, so for me it will be a kind of pilgrimage. Also I notice that tea is becoming quite a trendy drink, with top-quality whole leaf teas attracting more and more attention — so I am hoping I will be able to write and sell some tea & travel stories! Sikkim is supposed to be beautiful, a kind of Shangri-la, a remote region in the Himalayas dominated by the world’s third largest peak, Kanchenjunga.

Then its back to Delhi, and for the last three weeks of my trip I will be in Delhi and Rishikesh, staying at my ashram, Aurovalley Ashram, hopefully visiting the Kumbh Mela in nearby Haridwar — the largest gathering of humanity on earth — and meeting my friends at Anand Prakash Yoga Ashram in Rishikesh.

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