Ganga: A Journey Down the Ganges River
by Julian Crandall Hollick
from Island Press
The Ganges has always been more than just an ordinary river. For millions of Indians, she is also a goddess. According to popular belief, bathing in “Mother Ganga” dissolves all sins, drinking her waters cures illness, and dying on her banks ensures freedom from the cycle of death and rebirth.
Yet there remains a paradox: while Ganga is worshipped devotedly, she is also exploited without remorse. Much of her water has been siphoned off for irrigation, toxic chemicals are dumped into her, and dams and barrages have been built on her course, causing immense damage. Ganga is in danger of dying—but if the river dies, will the goddess die too?
The question took journalist Julian Crandall Hollick on an extraordinary journey through northern India: from the river’s source high in the Himalayas, past great cities and poor villages, to lush Saggar Island, where the river finally meets the sea. Along the way he encounters priests and pilgrims, dacoits and dolphins, the fishermen who subsist on the river, and the villagers whose lives have been destroyed by her. He finds that popular devotion to Ganga is stronger and blinder than ever, and it is putting her—and her people—in great risk.
Combining travelogue, science, and history, Ganga is a fascinating portrait of a river and a culture. It will show you India as you have never imagined it.
Bangladesh (Country Guide)
by Marika McAdam
from Lonely Planet
Be swept up in the maelstrom of Dhaka, explore the lush forests of the Sundarbans, relax into the serene rhythms of rural life along endless riverbanks and experience the extraordinary kindness of the people – uncover the secrets of one of travel’s last frontiers with the only English-language guide to Bangladesh.
Rest Easy – opinionated, in-depth accommodation and eating reviews enable you to make the best choice, whatever your budget
Discover The Diversity of this dynamic country with our comprehensive listings of sights and attractions
Find Your Way with the help of detailed transport information and over 40 maps
Get The Background on Bangladesh’s intriguing history and culture
Talk The Talk with our Bangla language chapter
Slowly Down the Ganges
by Eric Newby
from Lonely Planet
Eric Newby has never been bedeviled by practicality. Hence this 1,200-mile journey down the Ganges River, which the author undertook in 1963 in the company of his wife and an ever-changing crew of Indian retainers. What moved him to take the trip? Partly it was the memory of his military service in India more than two decades before. And as he confesses, Newby has a lifelong and perhaps congenital love of rivers: "I like exploring them. I like the way in which they grow deeper and wider and dirtier but always, however dirty they become, managing to retain some of the beauty with which they were born." Few rivers grow quite as dirty as the Ganges, which also goes by such nicknames as Atula ("Peerless"), Savitri ("Stimulator"), and Bhinna-brahmanda-darpini ("Taking pride in the broken egg of Brahma"). And few accounts of this mighty waterway could possibly be as acute and hilarious as Slowly down the Ganges, which Newby first published in 1966.
As always, the author finds human comedy everywhere he looks. Take his initial departure from beneath the Balawali Bridge, where a highly emotional crowd has gathered to see him off:
Two hundred yards below the bridge and some twelve hundred miles from the Bay of Bengal the boat grounded in sixteen inches of water.... I looked upstream to the bridge but all those who had been waving and weeping had studiously turned their backs. The boatmen uttered despairing cries for assistance but the men at the bridge bent to their tasks with unwonted diligence. As far as they were concerned we had passed out of their lives. We might never have existed.And so it goes, even as Newby and his crew run aground 63 times in the first six days, or switch doggedly from boat to train to bullock cart and back to boat again. His patience in the face of continuous disaster is superbly entertaining, as are his attempts to mollify his increasingly impatient wife, Wanda. Still, his gift for the farcical slow burn never keeps him from relishing the terrain, or from recording it in lyrical yet laconic prose: "At about six the sky to the east became faintly red; then it began to flame and the moon was extinguished; clouds of unidentifiable birds flew high overhead; a jackal skulked along the far shore and, knowing itself watched, went up the bank and into the trees; mist rose from the wet grass on the islands on which the shisham trees stood, wrapped like precious objects in their bandages of dead grass." Slowly down the Ganges is packed with such time-lapse portraiture, along with plenty of casual wisdom about history, humanity, and (last but not least) conjugal life. It's one of those rare voyages we only wish were much, much slower. --James Marcus
On his forty-fourth birthday Eric Newby, a self-confessed river lover, sets out on a 1200-mile journey down the Ganges River from Hardwar to the Bay of Bengal, accompanied by his wife Wanda. Things do not start smoothly as they run aground 63 times in the first six days, but gradually India's holiest river, The Pure, The Eternal, The Creator of Happiness, lives up to its many names and captures them in its spell.
Traveling in a variety of boats, most of them unsuitable, as well as by bus and bullock cart, the Newbys become intimately acquainted with the river's shifting moods and colorful history. Slowly Down the Ganges brims over with engaging characters and entertaining anecdotes, recounted in Newby's inimitable style. Best of all, he brilliantly captures the sights and sounds, the frustrations and rewards, the sheer enchantment of travel in India.
Songs at the River's Edge: Stories from a Bangladeshi Village
by Katy Gardner
from Pluto Press (UK)
Lonely Planet Bangladesh
by Richard Plunkett
from Lonely Planet Publications
Discover one of the last nations to remain untouched by tourism using this, the only English-language guide to Bangladesh. Explore its myriad waterways, witness rural lifestyles and visit newly opened tribal areas.
- 40 detailed maps of every region of the country
- reliable information on how to travel around this great budget destination
- shopping, cycling, sightseeing and where to chill out
- the lowdown on visas, health and local transport
- comprehensive language section
Lonely Planet India & Bangladesh Travel Atlas
by Hugh Finlay
from Lonely Planet Publications
India is enormous. At 1,237,062 square miles, it's more than five times the size of France. Yet how many maps does the average guide to India provide, and with what amount of detail? With nearly 100 pages of accurate maps, the Lonely Planet atlas for India and Bangladesh is a slim but liberating addition to your travel gear. It contains travel information in five languages and a comprehensive index; the atlas is an invaluable travel aid, unlocking India from Srinagar to Nagercoil and Jamnagar to Dibrugarh.
With full-color maps throughout. Travel information and roadtesting provided by guidebook author Hugh Finlay.
River Dog: A Journey Down the Brahmaputra
by Mark Shand
from Little, Brown Book Group
Photographic Guide to Birds of India and Nepal: Also Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
by Bikram Grewal
from Ralph Curtis Publishing
Pocket-sized photo guide to 252 species of birds in Indian and Nepal. Features individual accounts and a color photo for each species covered.
Bangladesh Map by ITMB (Travel Reference Map) (Travel Reference Map)
by ITMB Publishing
from ITMB Publishing
Folded road and travel map. Scale 1:750,000. Distinguishes roads ranging from primary roads to tracks. Legend includes railways, ferry routes, forests, parks, airports, beaches, bus stations, camping areas, churches, hospitals, hotels, mosques, museums, points of interest, temples. Includes inset map of Dhaka and Chittagong. Indexed.
Nelles Northeastern India - Bangladesh Travel Map (Nelles Maps)
by Nelles Maps
from Treaty Oak
Up-to-date, detailed, highly readable relief map with major roads and point-to-point distances clearly indicated. Tourist information provided. Easy to fold. Legend features include archaeological sites, places of interest, mountain peaks and passes, beaches, railways, hotels. Scale 1:500,000.
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