Photo Essay: Beautiful India

It has been my long standing dream to travel all around India and capture its beauty permanently in pictures. The big country that we are, it takes ages to cover the nation from end to end, and to be at right places at the right time is all the more difficult. Especially so in the mighty Himalayas where the terrain looks at its best when it is coldest.

I have made a small beginning, and hope to extend the library over the years. Here is a sample of images from a few beautiful places, from Kerala/TN in south to Himachal in the North, from Meghalaya in the East(North-East) to Rajasthan in the west.

Let's begin with the southernmost point in the mainland - Kanyakumari, the only place in the mainland where you can witness both sunrise and sunset over the sea.

Kappad in Kerala is a small not-so-well-known beach in the northern parts of Kerala. It is not yet crowded and you don't see rows and rows of hotels there, yet. But the tourism boom in the country might change things in the years to come.

Karnataka is where most of my images come from, it being my home state. And it helps when there is no dearth of beautiful places. This is an image from Coorg, where romance of the hills is at its best.

A lake in Chikmaglur. Nestled among greens hills around it, which includes the tallest peak in Karnataka, only a short drive from Chikmaglur town.

Hampi is a different landscape altogether. Its hills are smaller and naked, with little greenery on the slopes. But the boulders on the hills add the magic that is incomparable. Winter morning in Hampi, on a mildly foggy day. It was a lucky morning; further trips to Hampi in search of this spectacle gave me something of a similar order, but nothing as good.

On a smaller scale, tiny leaves float on water stagnated to irrigate a paddy field in a non-descript village in Andhra Pradesh.

Moving further north, sunrise on the Ganga at what is known as the world's oldest living city - Varanasi.

And to east, Nohkalikai Waterfall at a place that was once known for maximum precipitation in the world - Cherrpunjee.

A high altitude lake at 14,000 feet high in the Himalayas. Located in Kanchenjunga National Park, the lake is almost 40kms away from nearest motorable road.

Travelling along the Himalayas westwards from there, Nanda Devi in Uttaranchal is one of the tallest mountains in the country, and is also definitely on the most beautiful.

And not very far from Nanda Devi's sanctuary is Corbett National Park, more known for the tigers but has great landscapes that is routinely ignored by tiger-hungry tourists.

Travelling further west along the Himalayas, mountains of Spiti offer a completely different spectacle. Its slopes are brown, with hardly any vegetation. It is like a high altitude desert and has a distinct beauty.

And Chandratal lake is where the Shangri-la is, period.

To the west, in Rajasthan are arid landscapes of the desert. Each part of the country has distinct landscape, and yet each is beautiful in its own way.

And here is one more image from the desert. Sand dunes on a pleasant evening near Jaisalmer.

Naturally, it is only a sample of what India can offer to the traveller. A life time is probably not enough to visit every corner of the country, but it is a satisfying work, even if it remains incomplete.