From the high Himalayas to the Tamil south

Coming here recently to film The Story of India has made me appreciate the country even more. The wonderful variety of landscapes and cultures never fails to amaze me: the Buddhist sites of Leh and Ladakh, the Gonds of Orissa, near the magical lake at Chilika; Kerala, where you can rub shoulders with Syrian Christians, Indian Jews and Muslim boat-builders, who still ply the spice trade to the Gulf in their great wooden sailing boats. The Story of India by Michael Wood (BBC Books, £20) is published next Thursday. The six-part BBC 2 series of the same name starts on August 24 at 9pm.