This country has travelled far from its colonial past since its independence from Britain in 1947


This 23-day journey through India began in Chennai, then on to Bangalore, the tea


plantations of Ooty and Munnar, Bandipur National Park, Cochin, a port on the Arabian Sea, Alleppey, and Kovalam, before heading north to explore Delhi. Right: The marble shrine to Mahatma Gandhi


Malcolm Folley’s latest book ‘Monaco - Inside F1’s Greatest Race’ is out now in paperback (Arrow Books)


She passed our vehicle at a distance of no more than three metres, occasionally throwing us a haughty look over a shoulder. Rachel captured some video film and still photos on her phone; but, truly, the images are ones that will last in the memory for ever. As will India. The scope of the trip – from walking around the old garrison where Sir Robert Clive governed on behalf of the East India Company in Madras (now Chennai) – to a 22- hour trip on a houseboat in the backwaters of Alleppey, and swimming in the Arabian Sea during a four-day hiatus at a luxurious beach resort in Kovalam, before climaxing the adventure with an unforgettable excursion to the Taj Mahal at sunrise – was expertly pieced together by Harry, from Tour My India, who found us superb hotels, as well as arranging professional drivers and guides where appropriate, after we had booked our flights with British Airways outbound to Chennai and inbound from Delhi.


Of course, it was not missed by us that, as we toured in the air- conditioned comfort of a Toyota Innova, we were peeping into the


74 SAVILE ROW STYLE MAGAZINE


lives of people condemned to poverty. Yet this country, with a population of 1.4 billion people, has still travelled far from its colonial past since its independence from Britain in 1947. On our final day, in Delhi, we


went to the marble shrine to Mahatma Gandhi erected in the Raj Ghat where the man regarded as the Father of India was cremated after his assassination in 1948. We also toured the home of


Indira Gandhi, the first and only female prime minister of India, who was assassinated in the garden of her home by body guards in 1984.


In the shade of some trees, there is a sheet of glass over the precise spot where she fell on her walk to her nearby office. The white one-storey house is hidden from the road by shrubbery; but not from history. n tourmyindia.com


IMAGES ADOBE STOCK, PA IMAGES


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84