In the year 2007, the Tourism Department of India is celebrating Incredible India Year . If we say India is Incredible, that means, in India, there are many things which cannot be believed or when a visitor comes to India, he/she is surprised to see that such a country exists now. The truth India is exactly what it is. The problem what India is or what India is not, depends on the interpretation of one s subjective experience of the country itself, either as an insider or an outsider. Hence, whether India is Credible or Incredible depends on one s own interpretation of such personal experiences. The present work India-Travel Spiritual Tourism and Ground Realities aims to provide the tourists to India, a comprehensive information guide in understanding the basis of seven disciplines of Indian Civilization, namely, her landscape, history, social anthropology, philosophy, religion, art, and music which are inextricably interlinked with the places of tourist s interest in India. Hence, we have divided the entire India into 30 sectors so that tourists can zoom each sector armed with required information. Every place has a spiritual vibration of its own embedded in ground realities like a rock. For instance, if one visits Gomukh or the source of the river Ganges, one feels the presence of the sacred Ganges, Guru, God and Gong in the total environment and enjoys the ambience but the moment one sees the garbage nearby, ground realities disturb one s spiritual experience. On the other hand, in order to appreciate any place, we need to (a) How to reach the place; (b) What is the historic setting of the place; (c) What are the things worth-seeing; and (d) Excursions nearby. We have divided the project in 2 parts namely 1. Northern India; 2. East, West, Central, South, and Island Territories - Andaman Nicober and Lakshadweep. And we have catered information for each place under the above four categories. While giving information we have taken into tourist s multifarious interests, for mountaineering, skiing, trekking and all kinds of sports; yoga, meditation and spa facilities in the Hotels listed under the heading Hotels A to Z within a range of rates, beginning from one star to five stars (deluxe) . Also, there is a special section in Part I headed by India at a glance with General Information with (i) Social Indicators; (ii) Comparative Strengths of Scheduled Languages; (iii) Literacy and Education in India; (iv) Tourism; (v) Important Mountain Peaks; (vi) Important Lakes; (vii) Wildlife in Premier National Parks; (viii) Temperature and Rainfall in India; (ix) India Tourism Offices; (x) S.T.D. Code; (xi) I.S.D. Code; (xii) Voltages - Around the World; (xiii) Conversion Formulae; (xiv) Time Chart; (xv) Maps on Indian Railways and Airlines. The above information is followed by a Bibliography of important books on the general background of India; and Appendices on (i) The Light of Vedanta; (ii) Three Tapasvis of North India - a comparative study; (iii) Fascinating India in Mountainscape, Landscape, Flora and Fauna. Towards the end, we have prepared a very helpful index of the important places of India mentioned in great detail in the Guide.
