Human geography India hits you on all sides with its sights, sounds and smells. Some of these are most definitely better than others! One of the strangest things that happened was someone throwing red powder at me as I stepped off the bus in Delhi. I was about to throw something hard back at him until I was told it was the festival of Holi to celebrate the end of winter. Festivals are one of the best things about India, there's loads of them. About 30% of Indians live in rural areas and in some of these areas life hasn't changed much in hundreds of years. Most people in rural areas are farmers. Did you know there are at least 120 varieties of rice grown in India? I went to a village called Chembakolli to visit a group of Adivasi people. These people have lived in the forests on the Nilgiri hills for centuries. In the 20th century the government tried to force them from their land, but they fought for their rights and now it looks like they will be allowed to stay. When I went to India I was expecting everyone to live in a village like Chembakolli, but there's lots of big cities as well. In fact India is the 10th most industrialised country and has a large computer industry. Lots of people move to the cities from the rural areas in search of work. There's not enough housing for these people so most Indian cities have big slum areas. I'd seen loads of photos of the Taj Mahal but nothing prepared me for seeing it in real life. It was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife who died in childbirth. Apparently her death broke his heart and turned his hair grey overnight. Indians love going to the cinema and Bollywood films from Mumbai (previously Bombay) are enjoyed all over the world. I even watched a few myself. They are filmed in Hindi which is the most common language in India, but there are17 other official languages and over 1600 other languages and dialects. The upper classes tend to speak English. Religion is very important to Indians. About 83% of people are Hindu and 11% Muslim although there are also Buddists, Sikhs and various others. Varanasi is the religious capital of India. It's built on the banks of the river Ganges which is said to be sacred. Anyone who dies here is supposed to go straight to heaven. You also find people swimming, bathing, doing yoga, getting massaged, being shaved, buying and selling stuff and begging. Of course I went for a swim, a bit of good karma never did anyone any harm. Did you know that pink was the colour of hospitality? Neither did I until I went to Jaipur. Here the people are so friendly that they painted the entire city pink before Prince Alfred visited in 1853!