India is a country of bewilderingly great diversities. We keep marveling at the incredibly harmonious co-existence of various religions & culture; its varied landscapes from Kashmir to Kannyakumari and from Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh, the different cuisines, etc! In fact every single home is like a school of kitchen! India is also a place for Ayurveda, Yoga, learning, amazing arts & crafts, mountains, backwaters, nature, rivers, deserts, wildlife enthusiasts . India is a jigsaw of people - of every faith and religion, living together to create a unique and colourful mosaic. There is a festival for every reason and every season.

The Indian subcontinent lies to the north of equator and is surrounded by the Arabian Sea on the west, Indian Ocean in South, Bay of Bengal in the East, the Himalayas in North to North – East and Pakistan on North West frontier. It measures 3214 km from north to south and 2933 from east to west with a total area of 3,287,263 sq km. It has a land frontier of 15200 km and a coastline of 7516.5 km. Andaman & Nicobar Islands and the Bay of Bengal and the Lakshadweep islands are also a part of India.

India shares its political borders with Pakistan & Afghanistan on the west and Bangladesh & Burma in the east. The northern boundary is adjacent to China, Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. India is separated from Sri Lanka by a narrow channel of sea.

Mountain ranges: There are seven mountain ranges namely
1) The Himalayas
2) The Patkai and other ranges bordering India in the north & north-east
3) The Vindhyas, which separate the Indo-Gangetic plain from the Deccan Plateau
4) The Satpura
5) The Aravalli
6) The Sahayadri, which covers the eastern fringe of the West Coast plains and
7) The Eastern Ghats, irregularly scattered on the East Coast and forming the boundary of the East Coast plains.

Desert: Western India has a big desert region which can be divided into two parts – the great desert and the little desert. The great desert extends from the edge of Rann of Kutcch beyond the Luni river northward. The whole of Rajasthan – Sind Frontier runs through this. The little desert extends from the Luni between Jaisalmer and Jodhpur upto northern wastes.

Rivers: There are many big rivers flowing through our country. The Indus (Sindhu), The Ganges, The Brahmaputra, the Deccan rivers (Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, Pennar, Mahanadi, Damodar, Netravati, Periyar, Narmada & Tapti to name a few. The Gangetic basin forms the biggest fertile plains in India.

Climatic Conditions: India is so vast that the climatic conditions vary a lot. It has mainly 3 seasons a year – Rainy (June – September: South West monsoon; October – November: North West monsoon), Summer (April – July) and Winter (mid – October – February). The best time to visit most of the India is October – mid April, though there are many places which can be visited during the summer time too, e.g. cooler places up in the mountains of Leh – Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Darjeeling, parts of South India including Tamilnadu & Kerala. Goa has become quite popular during the rains due to its unparalleled greenery.