Visiting India was never on my bucket list but one day something told me I had to go.  Having heard of the eccentricities the country offered I thought it best to pick up a tour.  And that I did expecting to be taken through the India we see, the India that is so far out there it breaks all the rules of our civilisation and at the same time gives us visual feasts of colour, poverty, differences.  Then of course there is the food. The tour left me bitterly disappointed as with the exception of one day in the slums of New Delhi all I saw was a sanitised verion of India led by a religious member of the highest caste who seemed to forget that he was in a minority in this massive country. Adding to the fact that all I saw was what the 'tourists were meant to see', I didn't experience India, we mainly ate at tourist type restaurants where flavours were often dumbed down and our guide insisted that we got the tourist level of spices. But having said all that I did spend a week after the tour where I did feel as though I started scratching the surface of what makes this fascinating country tick.  Varanassi and Kolkata touched on that.  Bad choices of hotel on my part meant that I was isolated from much of the buzz but also gave me a glimpse into some of the rituals adhered to by the fanatics adhering to their religious traditions. I can't wait to go back without the tour and just hang out.  It has so much to offer off that tourist trail. ​