Indien

Just nu är det smällhett i norra Indien. Och snart kommer monsunregnen. Sådan tur att du just nu inte behöver resa dit för att uppleva indisk kultur. Det kan du nämligen göra på mycket närmare håll. Närmare bestämt i Kungsträdgården i Stockholm nu på lördag.

Long considered the ‘wild east’ of India, Nagaland abounds in primeval beauty and tribal culture. Its dazzling hills and valleys, reaching right up to the India–Myanmar border, are other-worldly places where, until not long ago, headhunting Naga tribes fought off intruders and each other. Today Nagas have abandoned headhunting and turned to Christianity. Traditional lifestyles linger strongest in the north, where many people live in thatched longhouses and follow farming and hunting lifestyles. The sense of Naga identity among the 16 or 17 main tribal groups, with multiple languages but cultural similarities, is strong. Traditional attire comes out in full feather-and-spear colour at the many tribal festivals, above all December's Hornbill Festival near Kohima.

Bharatpur is famous for its wonderful Unesco-listed Keoladeo National Park, a wetland and significant bird sanctuary. If here for the park, the city also has a few historic vestiges and a good museum worth visiting too. Bharatpur hosts the boisterous and colourful Brij Festival just prior to Holi celebrations.

A thriving, vibrant metropolis, Pune is a centre of academia and business that epitomises ‘New India’ with its baffling mix of capitalism and spiritualism (ancient and modern). It’s also globally famous, or notorious, for an ashram, the Osho International Meditation Resort, founded by the late guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.

Spectacularly jagged, arid mountains enfold this magical Buddhist ex-kingdom. Picture-perfect gompas (Tibetan Buddhist monasteries) dramatically crown rocky outcrops next to fluttering prayer flags and whitewashed stupas, while prayer wheels spun clockwise release merit-making mantras. Gompa interiors are a riot of golden Buddhas and intricately colourful murals and home to red-robed monks. It's a little corner of Tibet marooned in the furthest reaches of India.

The union territory of Puducherry (formerly Pondicherry; generally known as ‘Pondy’) was under French colonial rule until 1954. Some people here still speak French (and English with French accents). The internationally famous Sri Aurobindo Ashram and its offshoot just north of town, Auroville, draw large numbers of spiritually-minded visitors. Thus Pondy’s vibe: less faded colonial-era ville, more bohemian-chic, New Age–meets–Old World hang-out on the international travel trail.

Tamil Nadu is the homeland of one of humanity’s living classical civilisations, stretching back uninterrupted for two millennia and very much alive today in the Tamils' language, dance, poetry and forms of Hinduism.

På fastlandet råder alkoholförbud. Men här på ön Diu flödar vinet, ölen och spriten. Inte så konstigt att den före detta portugisiska kolonin blivit ett populärt resmål för indier som vill släppa loss.

Följ med till en myllrande megastad med kaféer, skuggiga trottoarer och egensinnig matkultur. Den forna imperiehuvudstaden är känd för sin fattigdom men kallas också The city of joy – njutningarnas stad.

Cosmopolitan Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) is one of India's most progressive and developed cities, blessed with a benevolent climate, a modern metro system, and a burgeoning drinking, dining and shopping scene. Its creature comforts are a godsend to the weary traveler who has done the hard yards off the beaten track, and it's a great city for mixing with locals in craft-beer joints or quirky independent cafes. Though there are no world-class sights, you'll find lovely parks and striking Victorian-era architecture.