Essential India Travel Guide

A Must Have Guide for the Westerners

By: Mohan Kapoor

Narrated by: AE Hopwood

I was born in Bikaner, a small but lovely city in the middle of Rajasthan, India. We left India for the US when I was 13, and didn’t go back till I was 23 again. Ten years is not that long of a break for most immigrant families, but for me, it was a huge shock in every sense, especially since I think I left at an early age and didn’t go back until I was a grown man. The little boy inside me wanted to find everything the way I left them, but that obviously was not the case. I could not even recognize most of my closest relatives.

We traveled to Mumbai (Bombay), Delhi, Kolkata, and I wanted to see all of Rajasthan, which we did. Then we came back to the US, and I brought back a lot of great memories along with a promise to myself that I would go back one day and see all of India.

Just three years later, I got a job offer from an Indian multinational company that I could not refuse. As I was going through my final interview, I learned my job would require me to travel extensively throughout India!

Long story short, I ended up working 15 years for that company, but only eight of those years were spent in India. I will admit those eight years were the most glorious times of my life. I was mesmerized by the culture, the food, the music, religion, and the endless colorful festivals that came around every so often.

I always wanted to write about India, and now that I have something I can share, I decided to take the opportunity to write about a simple but useful travel guide that can help people from all walks of life, culture, and country.

To keep this audiobook short and to the point, I decided not to get too much into the festivals, culture, or food other than the most essential parts I thought all travelers should know.

In this guide, I covered all four corners of this great country, but not every city in every state. Instead, I covered cities and states with the most popular and prominent tourist attractions.

Even though I was born in India, since I didn’t actually grow up there, it was a steep learning curve for me at first. But at least I knew the language (a bit), and I looked like an Indian, which was helpful in my case, I am sure. So when I started writing this audiobook, I thought I could truly bring a unique perspective to this audiobook because I know the best of both worlds and know how and when to bring them together and when not to.

I hope you will find this audiobook valuable in more ways than one, as I not only discuss what to see in India, but how to get prepared, how to apply for a visa, what to expect, how to plan your trips from a financial point, what type of travel agencies you can trust, what modes of transportation are the best, important cultural aspects, what food choices are safe, and so much more.

Let me welcome you to the beautiful land of music, dance, and colors we proudly call India; I know you will love visiting here.

Namaste.

©2018 Lost River Publishing Press (P)2018 Lost River Publishing Press

Excellent Intro to India!

Great overview of culture, places and travel tips! provides cultural insights, good suggestions for best ways to travel and region-by-region overview with key places to visit and why. Very informative and to the point.