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Mark Twain’s India

Mark Twain’s India

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A Doorway to the Past


Mark Twain wrote with such power and descriptive detail about India that it is very difficult to add to his often quoted extensive sentence. It deserves repeating and I hope serves him well with my rendition.

Times have changed since he was there. The country has transformed with a dose of modern times and infinite combinations of traditional thinking and modern technology. The wild places and animals from Kipling’s Jungle Book only exist in hidden corners of this nation with a population of more than a billion citizens. It is the world’s largest democracy.

So thank you in advance, Mr. Twain, thank you for piquing our interest in a most remarkable place full of interesting people.

“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, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of hundred nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of legend, great-grandmother of traditions, whose yesterday’s bear date with the modering antiquities for the rest of nations-the one sole country under the sun that is endowed with an imperishable interest for alien prince and alien peasant, for lettered and ignorant, wise and fool, rich and poor, bond and free, the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the world combined.”

Wow! He doesn’t leave much on the table- but it hints at the need of a guide, maybe a driver and someone who knows where to go and with whom.

If there ever was a place a traveler could use a helping hand, India is it. Maybe looking for a personal journey or dying to catch a glimpse of a tiger or researching history in Jaipur, seeing the Himalaya at dawn from Tiger Hill, all are better done with the advice and arrangements made by someone that is experienced. 

Be it in the Himalaya, waterways of Kerala or along the River Ganges at Varanasi, no traveler can miss India and expect to know much of this world. For a trip to India is viserial and essential in understanding humanity. There is only one place in the world that feels like India and that feeling is a required piece of the travel truth. Nobody can claim the title of  “world traveler” without at least one visit to India.

To learn more about our India trips, or speak with our resident India expert, director of operations Sanjay Saxena, please email us at: info@nomadicexpeditions.com