The daily live show at Khajuraho.

From the Himalaya Mountains to the Indian Ocean, Winding 1,560 miles across northern India, the Ganges River is a sacred entity. Known as Ganga Ma—Mother Ganges—the river is revered as a goddess whose purity cleanses the sins of the faithful and aids the dead on their path toward heaven. But while her spiritual purity has remained unchallenged for millennial, her physical purity has deteriorated as Indias booming population imposes an ever-growing burden upon her. There is a saying that the Ganges grants us salvation. This culture will end if the people stop going to the river, and if the culture dies the tradition dies, and the faith dies.
第二部分：在恒河上看到的令人震撼的场面。

Our journey started in the bustling port city of Mumbai (Bombay), home to Asia’s oldest stock exchange. Then we moved on to visit high-tech campuses in Bangalore and Hyderabad. The latter is only miles from the ancient city of Golconda, once renowned for its diamonds. From there, we were off to green Kochi on the Malabar Coast, with its many coconut trees, rice paddies and slow-moving rivers. We wound up the trip in the north – traveling to Jaipur, in hot and dry Rajasthan, then to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and, finally, to the dusty capital city of Delhi.

In Delhi, I walked through the old market of Chandni Chowk, which I had read so much about. Once it was a destination for camel trains from Kashgar, traders carrying jasper and sardonyx, cinnamon logs from Madagascar and much more. Today, it’s still a busy market, lined with shops where you can buy just about anything.

I feel I got a good taste of what India’s all about – our itinerary was so packed it would take pages to tell you everything I saw and did. Of course, I also met with money managers and private equity firms operating in India. That’s how I learned some interesting – and surprising – things about investing in India.

For example, did you realize that India suffers from an acute shortage of hotels?

Our group stayed at wonderful hotels during our trip, such as the Rambagh Palace in Jaipur and the Oberoi Amarvilas in Agra. Still, the room rates were so out of whack with everything else. The supply-demand balance is so tight that the average room rates in some cities have reached the $400 level. Overall, room rates in India are higher than current average room rates for New York, London and Singapore. It was one of the most stunning economic facts of the trip. That $400 goes far in India, which is not true of the dollar in too many places of the world these days.

Hard to imagine paying that much for a hotel room in India, isn’t it? But it does make sense…the entire country of India has fewer hotel rooms than the city of Orlando!

This is why we had to book rooms nearly two years in advance to get the hotels we wanted. It’s not a situation that’s going to get a lot better anytime soon. The number of tourists visiting India will likely increase 10% per year through 2012, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council. That would make India one of the fastest-growing tourist destinations in the world, to say nothing about the business travelers. Some companies have gone ahead and put up their own hotels on land they already own. They run these hotels for employees and business visitors. They can’t afford to sit around and wait for government approvals to build new hotels.

So opportunity No. 1 for investing in India would be to develop and run hotels in India. Unfortunately, there is no way for you as an investor in publicly traded stocks to do that. We heard a couple of developers talk about hotel and resort projects they have on tap. These were attractive, I thought, promising 30-40% annual rates of return on modest assumptions for hotel occupancy and room rates. They also have recent success stories, such as a 250% gain on a project started in January 2006. The people on the trip with me will have a shot at investing directly in these projects if they choose, but for purposes of this letter, it’s a tough insight to act on.

The real estate market is hot in India all around, and it’s attracting some mega money flows. Goldman Sachs calls India “the most exciting real estate market in Asia.” Overseas funds have raised $2.4 billion through September for investing in India. There’s another $1 billon ready to come on in the last quarter of the year. According to Private Equity Intelligence, investors will pour another $4-6 billion in 2008 into property funds with an Indian focus. All told, the market could grow from $15 billion to $90 billion by 2015. Kind of mind-boggling, isn’t it?

Even something like office space is in short supply. Commercial property space has doubled from 2002. Estimates call for another 150 million square feet over the next five years, and 500-650 million square feet over the next 10 years. That’s a lot of real estate.

In addition to real estate, there are many parts of the domestic economy that are attractive for those interested in investing in India. Unlike China and the Southeast Asian economies, India’s economy is not so dependent on exports.

The explosive growth in India’s economy is mainly a grass-roots-driven trend. There are about 200 million participating consumers in India, with tens of millions added annually. Needs are everywhere – for power, water, basic infrastructure.

Unfortunately, yet again, many of these opportunities are off-limits to public equity investors. This was a common frustration as I traveled in India. Investing in India is just not that easy. Foreigners cannot own Indian shares directly. Only institutional investors can. You can participate directly in certain projects, as I mentioned above, but that’s not helpful for our purposes here.

The easy way to invest in India is to buy the polite merchandise.

Dhamek Stupa (Dhamekh and Dhamekha) is a massive stupa located at Sarnath, 13 km away from Varanasi in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India.

The Dhamek Stupa was built ca. 500 AD to replace an earlier structure commissioned by the great Mauryan king Ashoka in 249 B.C.E., along with several other monuments, to commemorate his pilgrimage there. Stupas originated as circular mounds encircled by large stones. King Ashoka built stupas to enshrine small pieces of calcinated bone and other relics of Buddha and his disciples. An Ashoka pillar with an edict engraved on it stands near the site.

The Dhamek Stupa is said to mark the spot of a deer park (Rishipattana) where the Buddha gave the first sermon to his five disciples after attaining enlightenment,”revealing his Eightfold Path leading to nirvana”. The stupa was enlarged on six occasions but the upper part is still unfinished. While visiting Sarnath in 640 AD, Xuanzang recorded that the colony had over 1,500 priests and the main stupa was nearly 300 feet (91 m) high.[7]

In its current shape, the stupa is a solid cylinder of bricks and stone reaching a height of 43.6 meters and having a diameter of 28 meters. It is the most massive structure in Sarnath. The basement seems to have survived from Ashoka’s structure: the stone facing is chiseled and displays delicate floral carvings of Gupta origin. The wall is covered with exquisitely carved figures of humans and birds, as well as inscriptions in the Brāhmī script.

The daily live show at Khajuraho.

New Vishwanath Temple, also popularly known as the Golden Temple, is situated in the campus of Banares Hindu University (BHU). The temple is built by the Birla family and hence it is also known as Birla temple.

This new Vishwanath Temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. The temple a marvel in marbles is designed by the founder of BHU Madan Mohan Malavya.
The temple is open to all people irrespective of religion, caste and creed.

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Udaipur, India, is 300 miles southwest of Delhi, India, and is one of the most romantic cities in the world. Udaipur, India, has been called the City of Lakes and Udaipur in India is also the White City, because it has in it four white marble palaces, all built by a maharana in the 1500’s. Udaipur is a a perfect Family Travel destination and perfect for Adventure Travel. Udaipur, India, is so beautiful with its lakes in the middle of the desert in the state of Rajasthan, that the Maharana Jagat Singh II made it the royal city of Rajasthan. Udaipur, India, is a wonderful place for family travel. Children, as well as their parents, can immerse themselves in an exotic culture. Family Travel is best here in Udaipur, India, because of the different language, music, food, colorful dress and ancient history. In Udaipur, India, Family Travel is especially successful because the people in Udaipur, India, are very friendly and love children. On the way to Udaipur, Family Travelers will see elephants and camels, as well as taxis and rickshaws. Udaipur, India, unlocks the senses. Udaipur, India, is a good adventure destination as well, if a traveler wants to explore the gardens and lakes and city streets by foot and by boat.

Bharat Mata (the Mother India) is a personification of India as a mother goddess.

The cremation, taken from a respectable distance, on the banks of the river Ganges, where cremations can taken place 24 hours a day.
cremation takes place shortly after death, bodies wrapped in cloth are carried to the ghat on a bamboo litter.