Namaste Friends,

A new year is the perfect occasion for new beginnings. Incredible India is now being advertised on London buses, as well as billboards at Times Square in New York. As far as we know, we are the first Indian brand to be so advertised. Keep looking out for more innovations in our campaigns. View Commercials...

If you’re freezing in the chill of an exceptionally cold winter, take a tip from the Parisian who spends a month in sunny Goa each year – he finds it cheaper than paying his heating bills, and there’s the delicious seafood too		  
  Is it correct to call it “alternative medicine” when it’s one of the oldest medical systems in existence, with an approach to health that no less a body than the World Health Organisation (WHO) advocates.
  Is there more to it than massages?
Which dosha are you? Is there
anything like “Ayurvedic foods”?

Clear up your misconceptions
about Ayurveda, the Science of Life, at our new Incredible
Ayurveda microsite.
  The most expensive and exclusive of muslin saris (in 1903, the jamdani that won 3rd place at a muslin-weaving exhibition cost Rs. 500 as against Rs. 5 for an ordinary silk sari), jamdanis are a must for the discerning sari wearer’s collection. Traditionally woven by 2 weavers sitting side by side, they have
  India’s textile heritage includes muslin, considered to be the world's finest textile. A forty-yard piece could pass through a ring the size of a finger. Egyptian mummies were traditionally wrapped in Indian muslin.
  While India is typically associated with Bollywood, the Hindi film industry, or the films of Satyajit Ray, it is The Ramoji Film City, near Hyderabad, that is now making waves. Offering over 500 locations, and with facilities to produce nearly 60 films simultaneously, Ramoji Film City has made it to the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest film studio complex.
a variety of motifs woven into an opaque pattern against a transparent background. The very finest varieties are no longer woven.
 
 
Jackie Chan’s latest film, “The Myth”, has a strong Indian flavour. An Indian actress plays Jackie’s love interest. Part of the film was shot in Hampi, Karnataka, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Six Kalaripayathu (martial arts) practioners were the security guards of a temple visited by Jackie Chan’s character. Visiting India to promote the film, the actor said he hoped to soon make a film with Indian filmmakers and Indian stars. 		 
     
  Like Japan’s Kabuki and Brazil’s Samba, India’s Ramlila (the dance-drama based on the epic, Ramayana) has been recognised by UNESCO as “oral and intangible heritage”. The recognition means UNESCO will fund documentation of various strands of Ramlila as a living tradition in Kullu, Mysore, Dandi, Ayodhya, Ramnagar and Chitrakoot, each of which enacts the epic in a
distinctive way. India’s Vedic Chants and Kudiyattam have earlier been similarly recognised by UNESCO.		  
 
  28,000 people took to the roads in the 3rd annual Mumbai Marathon. People ran for their favourite charity, to improve their previous timing, or just to prove they could. Watch out for the next one, in January 2007.
     
   
    From time immemorial India has been known as the land of spices, luring traders from China, Arabia and Europe. Which do you think is the most expensive spice? Cardamom? Black Pepper? Actually, it’s saffron, the stigma of the crocus flower. It takes over 80,000 flowers to produce a pound of saffron, and these have to be hand picked and handled very delicately. Kashmiri saffron is acknowledged to be the finest in the world (Iran produces more, but the quality is inferior), and not too much of it is available for export. Don’t forget to pick up some on your next visit!  
           
 

Amitabh Kant
Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism,
Transport Bhawan, Parliament Street,
New Delhi - 110 001.
T: 91 + 11 + 23715084
F: 91 + 11 + 23710518
M: amitabhk@incredibleindia.org
W: http://www.incredibleindia.org

 

While others may claim breathtaking locales, the mysticism of the east, the draw of civilization, the call of the wild.... India is that and much more.....
It is a journey of mind and soul.
It is a journey of the five senses
It is a journey of self-discovery
It is a journey of self-fulfillment.

  
   

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