Travelling in India is like a roller-coaster ride, thrilling and unforgettable. India has something to offer to every traveller : scenic beauty, beaches, mountains, fauna, adventure sports, luxury hotels, historical monuments, a cultural treat for all the senses. The experience will leave you a little exhausted; because in every moment, there's so much to live.
If you think you've seen everything there is to see, you couldn't be more wrong. India isn't called Incredible India for nothing. This wonderful land is riddled with more mysteries and astonishing things than Alice or Dorothy could ever have imagined.
Sometimes uncanny and sometimes uplifting, India is full of surprises. Every corner of this wonderland has something waiting to be unraveled, just like these
# The Gravity Defying Palace, Bara Imambara, LucknowWhat will you do if somebody left you in the hall 50 meters long and 15 meters wide held up without any external support? You might choke up at the obvious thought of its collapse. But don’t worry, nothing like this going to happen. Well, you can call it wonder or supremacy of human architectural art, the Bara Imambara, the gravity defying palace at Lucknow is a marvel in it that has been erected without any external support.
The main hall was exclusively constructed in interlocked brickworks and is famous for its architecture. Built in 1784 by the fourth Nawab, Barak Imambara Asaf-ud-Daula it is a blend of Arabic and European Architecture.
# Floating Islands of Loktak Lakes, Manipur, KeralaYou must be surprised to know that India is the home to the world’s only floating lake. As a mother, Loktak Lake gives shelter to a plethora of flora and fauna to thrive on its bed which appears like floating over it. These floating masses of plants and organic matter in various stages of decomposition are called Phumdis. Spreading across the sprawling 40 km, Keibul Lamjao is largest of all the Phumdis & is the only national park in the world that floats over it.
Home to the endangered Shanghai or Manipur brow antlered deer, one of the subspecies of the Eld’s deer, it is situated in the south-eastern shore of the lake. These floating Phumdis produced such a spell bounded sight that will dazzle your eyes.
# Mystrious Skelaton Lake, UttarakhandGuarded by the two Himalayan peaks Trishul and Nanda Gunti, RoopKund Lake remains inaccessible for most of years, but it is one of the most beautiful lake trek with notorious past. There are no roads to this place yet, so one has to undertake a 3-4 day trek to reach the skeleton lake starting from Gwaldum in Chamoli district. The skeleton lake is covered with ice for most of the time during the year.
Roopkund lake caught the attention of the whole world when a ranger of Nanda Devi Game Reserve, H K Madhwal discovered human skeleton remains, floating in the water and lying haphazardly around the lake’s in the base of the lake when the snow melted. However, this was not the first time that reports of such recovery became public. 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.
# Land of Black Magic, MayongThe word ‘Mayong’ comes from the Sanskrit word for illusion, Maya. and this little place near Guwahati city in Eastern India has many tales of men disappearing into thin air, people being converted into animals, or beasts being magically tamed. It is said that sorcery and magic were traditionally practised here in ancient days and passed down over generations. Many ancient relics of Ayurveda and black magic are now preserved in the Mayong Central Museum.
Bits of history ranging from the Mahabharata, where it is believed that the then king of the region, Ghatotkatch participated in the battle with his magical powers to the times of the Mughals, whose tales are full of the unseemingly limitless powers of sorcery of this area – Mayong’s reputation precedes itself.
# Brain Museum, BangaloreThe museum, proudly considered the first-of-its-kind in India, is housed in the basement of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS). It displays over 300 samples of human brains of various sizes preserved in jars, collected from donors and victims of road accidents. Each brain here has its own story — some were damaged in an accident, others were infested with parasites. There are also rat and duck brains there to compare with the human brain. In addition, visitors are even offered to hold a real brain in their hands and to touch and feel a spinal cord and other parenchymal organs that are displayed in the museum.