India's civilization stretches back at least 5000 years but has been maintained to an extremely high level into the 20th century. Whereas other Asian nations have seen the decline of traditional culture, Indians, particularly those away from the major cities, maintain their traditional way of life. Thus, travelling to India is very much an unforgettable experience, as it is in many ways confronting to Western notions. It is confronting when you set foot in Delhi, where pollution is likely to revolt you with its stench. And it is confronting when you notice the existing entrenched class system and ill-treated outcasts. But while India may send your ideas of humanity into torrents, it will also doubtlessly impress you with some of the less confronting aspects of Indian cultural heritage: the glorious Taj Mahal and dozens of other beautiful temples, Indians' love for cricket and a cuisine that is simply superb.
India has reached a population: of 1.0bn people. Its religions are Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh Its official / National Languages are Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Panjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, English
India is everything human. it is all of our history: it is the past, it is the future. If it has been thought, experienced, or imagined, it has all happened before in India and you can be sure it is happening right now.
It has been said that there are 330 million gods in India, and there are at least that many varieties of experience available, religious or otherwise. Many go to India on the eternal pilgrimage, looking for enlightenment and answers, and India has plenty, from the genuine article to those devised by the cleverest touts and swindlers born. India will dissolve your ideas about what it is to be a human being, what it is to be compassionate, what it is to be spiritual or conscious. its people give new meaning to perseverance, courage, ingenuity, and friendship. India is a bewilderingly old culture, with myth and history so intertwined and layered that one knows immediately it cannot be known nor understood, only experienced

India, of course, is more than gods and swamis and ancient art, ashrams and temples and ruins too numerous to count, it is a vast expanse of jungle, desert, oasis, and don't forget the peerless Himalayas. India, an embarrassment of riches, is also home to elephants and tigers, leopards and rhinos, and maybe even the elusive yeti in the rhododendron forests of Sikkim.
India is home to the worlds largest movie industry and some of the worlds worst living conditions, a place where advanced technology and science coexist with crushing poverty and disease, where exquisite music and dance and the science of right action live side by side with political corruption and mob violence on a massive scale.
India is the worlds largest democracy but one threatened by hindu-muslim religious conflict, an ever-tense border situation with Pakistan in Kashmir, trouble in Tamil Nadu state spilling over from civil conflicts in Sri Lanka, and numerous movements trying to break off autonomous pieces from the nation.
India--monsoon and marigold, dung and dust, colors and corpses, smoke and ash, snow and sand--is a cruel, unrelenting place of ineffable sweetness. much like life itself. and, like life itself (if reincarnation be true) worth visiting repeatedly, in this turn of the wheel and the next.