Extreme, and for that reason fascinating: India is a journey into beauty and its opposite, into earthly life sculpted in marble and spiritual life entrusted to the waters of the Ganges.
Vivid, striking colours, spiced and penetrating scents, instantly recognisable traditional music, Hindu temples and megacities, deep spirituality and Bollywood: the allure of India lies in the beauty of its landscapes, its fabrics, its food, its prayer, its excesses — and at the same time in its most contradictory aspects, where grandeur and neglect coexist alongside misery and celebration (India has an extraordinarily rich calendar of traditional festivals), and where fire is revered as it consumes earthly life.
For many people, India is what is known as the journey of a lifetime — something you undertake when you feel ready, and then find yourself unable to resist the call to return. Because it gets under your skin and stays with you for the rest of your life. Travelling in India is no simple matter, since everything is simultaneously still and overwhelming: the traffic, the smells, the Taj Mahal, the river Ganges.
Entrusting yourself to an organised tour thus becomes a sound option for approaching this extraordinary world. For first-time visitors, the Voyager Dream e Varanasi itinerary by Turisanda traces the most classic and unmissable stops in the country, venturing all the way into the soul of India.
It is a ten-day group journey covering a total of 985 kilometres: it begins in Delhi, the third most populous city in the world, made up of two distinct places — Old Delhi and New Delhi — blending history and modernity. In the old city, visitors travel through alleyways by rickshaw, explore the Chandi Chowk market, visit the great Jama Masjid mosque, capable of hosting up to 20,000 worshippers, and linger at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the official residence of the President of India, and at the India Gate, a memorial to the war dead.
The new city is home to the Qutub Minar, the brick minaret that symbolises the Indian capital, the Birla Temple, a Hindu temple inaugurated by Gandhi, and the Bangla Sahib, the largest Sikh temple in the city: here visitors can access the kitchens where thousands of pilgrims receive three free meals a day served by hundreds of volunteers.
Mandawa is the second stop on the journey, a city on the Silk Road where visitors can admire the haveli, the ancient merchants' houses in which works of art and walls frescoed and decorated with scenes of everyday and religious life were meant to convey the wealth of their inhabitants. The journey then continues to the third stop, Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan and known as the pink city: built according to the Hindu architectural concept of Vastu Shastra, it has had this appearance ever since 1876, when Maharaja Ram Singh had all the city's buildings painted pink to welcome the Prince of Wales, Edward VII — pink being the colour of hospitality.
After visiting the city's main attractions — such as the Hawa Mahal, the Palace of the Winds, a pink and red sandstone "honeycomb" structure that allowed the women of the royal family to observe daily life on the street without being seen, and the Amber Fort — in Jaipur visitors can enjoy the experience of cooking an Indian meal and having lunch with a local family.
The journey continues to Agra which, together with Delhi and Jaipur, forms the so-called golden triangle of India, named after the shape traced by the route connecting the three cities on a map. It is here that the Taj Mahal stands — the famous white marble mausoleum of Islamic architecture, a Unesco World Heritage Site and one of the seven wonders of the world, a pinnacle of human creativity and devotion. It was built in 1632 by the Mughal emperor Shāh Jahān in memory of his wife Mumtāz Maḥal, who died in childbirth. An emblem of India, the Taj Mahal astonishes from every angle with its architecture of solids and voids reflected in the waters of the Yamuna river, while a close-up view reveals the stones inlaid in the marble that form intricate decorative patterns.
The Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the modern world © iStock
The final destination and highlight of the journey is Varanasi, a city that rises on the banks of the Ganges river and which American writer Mark Twain describes as "older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend…". For the Hindu religion, it is the sacred place where everything began and where everything ends. It is whispered that this is where the first ray of light fell, kindling the spark of life. And it is here that Hindus come to die, because by being cremated and having their ashes scattered in the river, they can break the cycle of death and rebirth known as Samsara.
Travelling by boat on the Ganges, one witnesses daily life along the ghats, the stepped embankments lining the riverbank, where Indians pray, children play, Sadhu (Hindu ascetics) meditate, cows rest, where clothes are washed, ablutions are performed and funeral pyres are lit.
An intense and moving experience, steeped in spirituality and emotion, amplified by the chanting of priests, the red of the living flame and the smoke of incense. All of this makes Varanasi a special place, where death teems with life. A timeless and unforgettable place.
Then, all at once, the spell breaks and life goes on, amid silk saris billowing in the markets and the enticing aroma of a spiced dish. India.
