It is hard to find a country with as much variation, contrast and contradictions as India. A thousand images rise: sloeeyed women in brilliant sarees, swaying down village streets; computer whiz kids in a Bangalore street cafe; wild life sanctuaries and national park of Uttaranchal; the luminous Taj Mahal, love poem in marble; a small man in a loincloth marching to independence. India is the stark mountains of Ladakh, she is the sand dunes of the Thar Desert in Rajasthan, bustling Mumbai, verdant northeast forests where orchids grow wild, the breathtaking sunsets at land's end, Kanya Kumari, the southern most tip of India. She is a sensual bollywood actress, hips a-flutter; she is a pious sage seeking atonement in the Ganges. Rich with history and glowing with the promise of tomorrow, India is, most of all, destinations to be savoured.