Nothing but the offbeat – the 3 must sees of India

We asked Bijoy, the cool bespectacled Travel Editor of Yahoo India, the three places one must see in India. He had nothing but the unseen, untalked of hideouts away from the beaten tourist trail on his list. So, here are his unique three picks of places not to be missed in India. Follow his footsteps to the three musts sees of India.

1) Meghamalai in Tamil Nadu
One reason to love this place is that it’s soo off the beaten track (and that track is really, really weather-beaten). Only the most hardened travelers make a road trip there. I did it on assignment and, once up there, it was worth every bit of trouble taken. One of the most pristine wilderness habitats I have seen, this hill station in the High Wavy hills of the southern Western Ghats has nothing up there but a remote and aloof tea garden run by some very lonely managers who will give anything for a conversation over endless cups of locally grown tea. The Wood Briar group runs two plantation stays here and both are beautiful but a little pricey. Things to do: Enjoy a plantation tour, pick oranges (in season), take a nature walk, or just gaze at the clouds doing their little dance on the waters of the reservoirs.

2) Kutch, Gujarat
I was lucky to experience Kutch in winter. Being a birder, I was after treasured sightings of the feathered kind. However, Kutch turned out to be so much more. The geology — extinct volcanoes, seasonal river beds and the acres of bare salt marsh — was otherworldly. We visited ancient temples, shopped for textiles, crafts and silver, listened to retired traders from Kenya and Tanzania converse in Swahili, gorged on some scrumptious vegetarian fare, had intimate encounters with endangered wildlife and filled our memories with the sight of thousands of flamingoes colouring the sea pink. And, of course, there was Dholavira, where your sense of lived time just evaporates. At this Harappan Civilization site, we can feel small and insignificant before the wisdom and technology that predates our arrogant generation. (No photos from here. My camera was stolen on the train and I had only my video camera, from which I can’t grab images)

3) Great Himalayan National Park, Himachal Pradesh
I have walked a few times in the Himalayas, but this trip was something else. One of the least walked wild trails in the Himalayas, the Great Himalayan National Park trek is tough and demanding, but every breath spent is renewed at the sight of an amphitheatre of snow-capped peaks and the distant call of the Jujurana – the Western Tragopan, king of birds in Himachal.

Meet Bijoy

Bijoy Venugopal is Editor of Yahoo India Travel (https://in.lifestyle.yahoo.com/travel/) and a travel writer and blogger who has written for Outlook Traveller, Open magazine, Mint Lounge, Tehelka and India Abroad. Besides being widely travelled in India, he has travelled on assignment to the United States, Australia, Switzerland, the Sultanate of Oman, the Maldives, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore. On Twitter (@bijoyv), he is a founder and co-host of India’s most vibrant Twitter travel chat (hashtag #TravelIST). He is an avid hiker, nature enthusiast and photo-blogger and is the founder-editor of the nature blog, The Green Ogre (http://www.greenogre.org). He also blogs at Afoot (http://www.bijoyvenugopal.com).