The sights of northern India appear on most travelers' must-see lists: the glittering Taj Mahal, devout pilgrims bathing at dawn in the Ganges at Varanasi, the resplendent palaces of the maharajahs at Udaipur and Jaipur.
But it is in South India that the true heart of India beats. It is this portion of the subcontinent that most travelers to India never see. Stretching from the Arabian Sea in the west to the Bay of Bengal in the east, it is a land of startling contrasts. Palm-fringed beaches line both the western Malabar coast and the eastern Coromandel coast. Lush tropical forests -- many now national parks -- dot the interior of the subcontinent. Christian churches, originally built by the Portuguese, Dutch and British, stand in close proximity to the elaborate Dravidian temples of a much earlier era. The large cities of the south -- Madras and Bangalore -- appear almost tranquil in comparison to the frenzy of such northern cities as Delhi and Calcutta. The tiny villages of the countryside seem lost in time, life moving slowly on in seasonal cycles as it has for millennia. This is India at its best.
South India begins at Bombay. New York has its Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, Paris the Eiffel Tower, Rome the Colosseum. Bombay has the Gateway of India, built to commemorate the 1911 royal visit of George V and Queen Mary. Overlooking the harbor on the Arabian Sea, it stands stolidly beside Bombay's second landmark, the Victorian-Gothic Taj Mahal Hotel. From the windows of the hotel's Sea Lounge, one can gaze at the Gateway while sipping Earl Grey tea accompanied by savory pakoras (deep-fried vegetables) and samosas (flour patties filled with potatoes).
Goa is only an hour south by air. Here against a luxuriant backdrop of rice paddies and palm trees are numerous reminders of Portugal: tiny pastel-colored churches nestled among the jackfruit and mango groves; ruins of a 17th century fortress incorporated into one of India's most luxurious beach resorts, the Taj Fort Aguada; Indians with surnames like Peres and Pereira; and an eclectic cuisine that includes suckling pig and chorizo (Portuguese-style sausage). Not at all strange when you remember that Goa was a Portuguese possession for 451 years, from 1510 to 1961, when it was forcibly incorporated into ++ India.
