Our 2017 Indian journey will try to discover the effect of 2 centuries on those regal palaces, temples & mosques painted by an Indian artist, Sita Ram.
Lord Hastings set out from Barrackpore just west of Calcutta, on a 17 month journey to the Punjab accompanied by 10,000 men, 221 riverboats, numerous elephants, camels and draught animals. He took his wife and his complete stables as did other officers of the East India Co!
Importantly Sita Ram, an artist with a flair for draughtmanship in his art of the Canaletto style, which was unusual at that time for a native artist, was instructed to record in fine detail what he saw of the landscape and its prominent structures. His pictures remain today.
We will ship to Bombay, firstly heading south to Madurai then East to the Coramandel coast at which point things get a little more complicated: the states of Jharkhand, Orrisa and Chattisgarh are reportedly in the thrall of the Naxalites! The more northern state of Bihar is also said to be dangerous!
We therefore may well turn in westward after Chennai (Madras) to Hyderabad and then go north to Varanasi (Benares) where we will pick up Hastings route proper. This may change as reports coming in indicate the Naxalites are quiescent at the moment.
Mother India has put one more complication in our way: no cars will be allowed into the country, even for a short visit, unless built to Euro 4 specification. This of course means our usual transport in India, our 1925 Lanchester 40hp tourer will not accomodate us on this visit.
This has led us to consider our Land Rover Defender 90 built to Euro 5 spec.
Complexities and obstacles notwithstanding we are getting very excited at the prospect of a journey to last nearly 4 months covering a lot of new ground in the south and east of the Sub Continent, India.