5 reasons to travel to India

Discover a diametrically different culture

Forget all Western logic or customs, India welcomes you into its collective cheerful confusion. In the circulation of sacred cows who sleep on the platforms of the state, and Hindu temples celebrating thousands of divinities in the hundreds of different dialects spoken in the country... India is vast, majestic but rather disconcerting. A culture in itself, but shared by more than a billion souls. A reason to make you to go back full of anecdotes and photographs!

Every landscape is represented

Whether you wish to climb to the top of the Himalayas, surf on the waves of Kerala, stride along the desert of Rajasthan, play Robinson Cruseo on the Andaman Islands or re-live Slumdog Millionnaire in the districts of Bombay, everything is possible in India. Your only enemy? Time. It would be impossible to see the whole country, even if you spent a year there. So choose your priorities and come back several times!   

A gastronomical journey

India is the only country which is very strongly vegetarian, yet where you will never run out of meat. Rich in several influences (Portuguese, English, French...), discovering the Indian gastronomy is worthy of a trip in itself. Chapati and northern roast are in competition with the paratha filled with vegetables and the coconut dosa (and I'm not only talking about their breads!). During the first few days, state that you would like "non-spicy" food, which will still be spicy, and try everything! Indian cuisine rarely disappoints...

Discover Bollywood

If you have the time, go for a tour of the side of the Gate of India in Bombay and wait there patiently for a while. Every day, Bollywood agents go there to find tourists to be extras in one of their blockbusters. They offer you a time in the week where your role will often consist of dancing in a nightclub or pretending to dine in an expatriate restaurant. A good way to discover the behind the scenes of an enormous industry and also to get a memento of your journey when you can buy, a few months later, a copy of your appearance in a Bollywood film.

Overcome your preconceptions to understand Indians.

The first few days can be puzzling in India. The noise, the crowds, the looks you'll get because of your skin colour, the smells and richness border on misery. India has its reasons that reason ignores. But once you have risen above your preconceptions, you will be able to discover a bit about this culture, its evolution, spirituality, kindness and amazement at the West and our customs... A trip which will question what we consider "normal" or assumed. An excellent way to recall or discover that normality stops at our comfort zone. And that nobody is either right nor wrong. Indians are different in many aspects but are also a fantastic population from whom we can learn a lot.