Incredible India! Kolukkumalai Tea Estate, Munnar, Kerala

The highest tea estate in the world at 8,000 feet, Munnar, Kerala

Thirty-five km outside of Munnar, India, the Kolukkumalai Tea Estate is built high atop the precipitous ridge that rises above the plains. Known for its excellent, flavorsome teas, this estate is also known for its panoramic views and the for the rugged mountains that surround it.

It's remote - it takes about 90 minutes to reach Kolukkumalai from Munnar - but on clear nights, you can see Kodaikanal from the estate because of its height. The factory at the center of the estate has stood for several generations, having been built more than 70 years ago. It uses traditional techniques even today that serve as a draw for tea enthusiasts. Orthodox tea-making is a seven-step process that includes withering, rolling, sieving, fermenting, drying, fiber extraction, and grading. All of this work happens in the small factory that has not been changed since the British constructed it in the 1930s.

The estate was the 2005 Southern Tea Competition winner of the Golden Leaf India Awards.

Incredible India! Wagah Border, a masterpiece of bonhomie between India and Pakistan

If you have not seen the Wagah Border ceremony live, you have really missed something in life. Here ICD (Incredible India Directory) takes you to a a part of our country’s culture that can reduce the mammoths into a blubbering mass. It’s an hour’s drive from Amritsar. Do visit if ever in that part of the country you will really come across a pleasant expereince and come back with lifelong memories.

Each evening the Indian military, and the Pakistani Rangers step out to the cheers of thousands of spectators. While one side screams "Pakistan Zindabad", the other shouts "Jai Hind". Wearing almost identical military regalia of boots, spats, uniforms, metals, and plumed hats the two sides are distinguishable by the differing colors of their uniforms: dark green for the Pakistani Rangers and tan for the Indian Military. Heated looks, mimicked threats, goose stepping and the slap of boots hitting the pavement are all part of the ritual and the movements all bear a distinct resemblance to those of angry birds. Carrying loaded weapons the two sides perform a final elaborate series of steps, speed marching towards each other in an aggressive dance before meeting in the middle and taking the flags down simultaneously. There is the briefest of handshakes with the angriest of looks in their eyes and then the gates are closed. The ceremony, for that day at least, is over.

If you step there once, you’ll see the fervor that spreads amongst the crowds of both sides. You can slice an axe though the emotional thickness in the air. People are so overwhelmed & overcome with the patriotism and the display of anger and pride by their respective militaries that the majority break down and shed a tear or two. Angry shouting of slogans of Jai Hind (on the Indian side) by grown men with tears in their eyes is what marks the actual end of the evening’s ceremony. The same is reciprocated on the other side. As you step down, you notice that you do not hate the other side of the bordered land, it’s just you love the one you live in too much; and then shed another one in pride as you walk back to you waiting car.

Incredible India! Unexplored Attraction! Masrur Temple, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh

Intricately carved from one single piece of sandstone, almost nothing is known about the Masrur Temples. Besides conjecture and legend, there are no hard facts connecting the complex to a people or even a time period. When the temples were first constructed, there were 19 in total, all ranging in size and complexity. Over the years, invasion and natural disaster has left only 15 ruins standing, but the high concentration and unique architecture make it one of the most intriguing temple sites in India.

The temples were built by the Pandava, five brothers who engaged in a massive war with their cousins in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. Later archeological speculation supposed the temples were built in the 9th century by wealthy traders, who built the complex as a shrine to Shiva, Rama, Lakshman and Sita. A number of stone statues depicting these deities still exist inside of the larger temples. Along with the actual structures, a 50 meter-long reservoir that is also hollowed from sandstone lies in front of the main structure, and reflects the stone-carved mystery in its waters.

The setting, the carvings and the layout is a must-see.

Incredible India! Roopkund Lake, Uttrakhand

Roopkund (Skeleton Lake) is a glacial lake in Uttarakhand at an altitude of about 5,029 metres. It is famous for more than five hundred human skeletons found at the edge of a lake. In 1942 a British forest guard in Roopkund, India made an alarming discovery. Some 16,000 feet above sea level, at the bottom of a small valley, was a frozen lake absolutely full of skeletons. That summer, the ice melting revealed even more skeletal remains, floating in the water and lying haphazardly around the lake's edges. Something horrible had happened here.

A 2004 expedition to the site seems to have finally revealed the mystery of what caused those people's deaths. The answer was stranger than anyone had guessed. As it turns out, all the bodies date to around 850 AD. DNA evidence indicates that there were two distinct groups of people, one a family or tribe of closely related individuals, and a second smaller, shorter group of locals, likely hired as porters and guides. Rings, spears, leather shoes, and bamboo staves were found, leading experts to believe that the group was comprised of pilgrims heading through the valley with the help of the locals. All the bodies had died in a similar way, from blows to the head. However, the short deep cracks in the skulls appeared to be the result not of weapons, but rather of something rounded. The bodies also only had wounds on their heads, and shoulders as if the blows had all come from directly above. What had killed them all, porter and pilgrim alike?

Among Himalayan women there is an ancient and traditional folk song. The lyrics describe a goddess so enraged at outsiders who defiled her mountain sanctuary that she rained death upon them by flinging hailstones “hard as iron.” After much research and consideration, the 2004 expedition came to the same conclusion. All people died from a sudden and severe hailstorm. Trapped in the valley with nowhere to hide or seek shelter, the "hard as iron” cricket ball-sized [about 23 centimeter/9 inches diameter] hailstones came by the thousands, resulting in the travelers' bizarre sudden death. The remains lay in the lake for 1,200 years until their discovery.

Incredible India! Root Bridges, Cherrapunji

Renowned as one of the most rain receiving places in India and world, Cherrapunji is equally famous for Root Bridges. Fondly it called that Cherrapunji is a place where bridges are not built, they’re grown.

In the wettest place on this earth, the living bridges of Cherrapunji, India are made from the roots of the Ficus elastica tree. This tree produces a series of secondary roots from higher up its trunk and can comfortably perch atop huge boulders along the riverbanks, or even in the middle of the rivers themselves. In order to make a rubber tree's roots grow in the right direction - say, over a river - the Khasis (local tribe) use betel nut trunks, sliced down the middle and hollowed out, to create root-guidance systems.

The thin, tender roots of the rubber tree, prevented from fanning out by the betel nut trunks, grow straight out. When they reach the other side of the river, they're allowed to take root in the soil. Given enough time, a sturdy, living bridge is produced. The root bridges, some of which are over a hundred feet long, take ten to fifteen years to become fully functional, but they're extraordinarily strong - strong enough that some of them can support the weight of fifty or more people at a time.

Unlike bridges built by man, which weaken over a period of time, these don’t. Because they are alive and still growing, the bridges actually gain strength over time - and some of the ancient root bridges used daily by the people of the villages around Cherrapunji may be well over five hundred years old. One special root bridge, believed to be the only one of its kind in the world, is actually two bridges stacked one over the other and has come to be known as the "Umshiang Double-Decker Root Bridge."

Incredible India! Bhimbetka Caves - A World Heritage Site.

Just 45 kms from Bhopal, and often ignored by Indians especially tourists, lie the Bhimbetka Caves. A world Heritage Site, Bhimbetka caves exhibit the earliest traces of life and historic past of India. Analyses show they exhibit life in existence here over 100,000 years ago. Decked with stone age rock-paintings, some of these are analysed to be over 30,000 years old. The name itself means “Sitting place of Bhim (Mahabharata)”.

The entire area of Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh is covered by thick vegetation, has abundant natural resources in its perennial water supplies, natural shelters, rich forest flora and fauna, and bears a significant resemblance to similar rock art sites such as Kakadu National Park in Australia, the cave paintings of the Bushmen in Kalahari Desert, and the Upper Paleolithic Lascaux cave paintings in France. Out of the 700 identified shelters in the world, about 240+ are in Bhimbetka. The smooth shape of the rocks has led some explorers to believe they may have been underwater once.

The rock shelters and caves of Bhimbetka have a number of interesting paintings which depict the lives and times of the people who lived in the caves, including scenes of childbirth, communal dancing and drinking, and religious rites and burials, as well as the natural environment around them, apart from hunting, dancing, music, horse and elephant riders, animal fighting, honey collection, decoration of bodies, disguises and masking and household scenes.

Hence, whether you are art and culture lover or a historian or a common traveller, whenever you visit Madhya Pradesh must pay a visit to Bhimbetka Caves. You will come across amazing creatures and carry along lifelong memories after visiting Bhimbetka.