India India is amazing, it has some of the world’s most beautiful landscapes such as the Himalayas and the backwaters of Kerala, and some of most colourful and spiritual places in the world such as Varanasi. India is the second most populated country in the world with over 1 billion people. It accounts for over 17% of the world’s population.
Despite all the media coverage of the economical developments of India, the vast majority of India is being left behind, and the gap between the haves and the have nots is getting even wider. It has an estimated adult literacy rate of just 60%, and ever increasing health care problems - An estimated 2.5 million people currently living with HIV. | Gwalior Gwalior, a city of 1,200,000 people, is situated in the state of Madhya Pradesh, in central India. Gwalior is on the main road and rail line between New Delhi and Mumbai. It is large, industrial, vibrant and busy but it is surrounded by very basic rural villages, and farm land. The Chambal valley is a mainly flat catchment area, surrounded by low lying hills. This combines with the wind to make the area often quite dusty and hazy, and Gwalior itself is no exception. With temperatures of up to 47 ºC in the summer and -5 ºC in the winter, Gwalior has intermittant electricity, poor health education, and disease, all contributing to it's problems. There are many interesting historical sites in Gwalior and it is around 2 hours by train to the Taj Mahal in Agra.
The majority of people in Gwalior speak Hindi, with only a few speaking English, and most are Hindus and vegetarians.
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