India: Easy, Peesey

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Sorry I am subjecting you to a rant but there is yet another travel-to-India article that completely misses the boat.

The author's premise is that Western audiences don't have enough time to “visit” India. Fair enough. See two wedding photographers, Sean Flanigan or Dane Sander‘s really quick trips into the country. It's possible.

So, that's not what I am moaning about. I cringed as I clicked on the link to the article. I just about guessed the only image they would use on the top is of [drum roll] the Taj Mahal. Oy! Com'on New York Times. India is a lot more diverse than that old hackneyed image. But the meat of the article was about, yes, visiting the tourist traps in the North. The South, the East or even the West of India are all but, well, non-entities. And that pisses me off.

Here is a respectful, but perhaps stern, demand to future travel writers of India – please skip North India for once and check out the rest of the country. By focusing again and again only on the Northern triangle – Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, you are only perpetuating the myth of India as a mystical place. Visitors to India will continue to have a myopic view of the country.

No doubt these places in the North are must-see places, but please for the love of God, find a way to see the rest of the country and write about it. And please be a little more original about the use of your images.