How do you go about describing a country as huge, diverse, complex and colourful as India? You don’t, you leave it to Mark Twain. “This is indeed India! The land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendour and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence .… the one land that all men desire to see, and having once seen by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the world combined.” India’s capital is Delhi, a sprawling metropolis with a pedigree stretching back at least 4,500 years.
different centres: to the south are the wide, tree-lined boulevards and colonnaded mansions of British-built New Delhi, the official seat of government. To the north, Old Delhi is an overcrowded frenzy of narrow winding streets and alleys. The city will certainly look tatty to the first-time visitor, but beyond the peeling paint, fading posters and madcap façade is a city rich in culture, architecture and human diversity. This, and the constant buzz of excitement make it a destination that, as Mark Twain said a hundred years ago, should be experienced by all – at least once.
