It was my first time in India, and I had a wonderful experience. My daughter and I travelled around the south from Chennai, then Pondichery, and Tamil Nadu, through the stunningly (as in stunned into silence!) beautiful tea, coffee, spice, and rubber plantations of the Western Ghats, all the way to the southwestern coastal region of Kerala. There are many wonderful temples to see in the south, but it offers so much more, and a cou particular highlights were the cooking demonstrations (and meals afterwards!), conversations with the Indians we met along the way, about their history, culture and families, including our knowledgeable Banyan drivers and guides. Visiting the south for a first trip to this fascinating country I would highly recommend. It is a 'gentle' introduction to a country of extremes, contrasts, and diversity (in just about everything than I've seen anywhere!) in every sense, and I couldn't help but feel that I got to know these southern states and it's people more than perhaps I would have felt in the North, precisely because it is an area of India that is a 'road a little less travelled'. It is a developing country, and inevitably not everything is to one's liking, or taste, but after I got back home, thoughts of India brought to mind Samuel Johnson's quote - '...when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life', and I think this could be applied to India too!