CALCUTTA, India travel — No doubt the Taj Mahal steals the breath away. But as a repeat visitor to India, I have often arrived at its gates too exhausted to have much breath left to steal.
Many tourists report being treated like gobs of tourist putty in the hands of Agra's masterful touts, cajoled into unwanted side trips to trinket shops or pressed to hire an unauthorized tour guide.
In a survey published in 2006, the government of India found that 63 per cent of foreign tourists complained of being cheated or harassed "in many tourist destinations like Agra," as well as Delhi, India's capital.
But there are endless alternatives for a holiday in India without the Taj, and even first-time visitors to the country might choose one of these circuits - provided they can stand up to friends back home boggled by the idea of visiting India without seeing the fabled monument.
On a nine-day visit to India earlier this year, my brother and I chose Calcutta, not Delhi, as our gateway into India. By doing so, we effectively ruled out a visit to the Mughal masterpieces of India's north, in the hope of finding adventure in a place with few tourist headaches. We succeeded.
Calcutta - also known as Kolkata - is the former capital of British India. Now the capital of West Bengal state, the city welcomed us with unforgettable scenes of everyday life.
