Arrested for a minor offence. Therell be a full bulletin at the top of the hour, but now on bbc news, its time for the travel show. India. A vast country, home to over a billion people, birthplace of illustrious, ancient civilisations. And today, a fast emerging global power. And 70 years after independence, india is still a diverse, ever evolving assortment of cultures, creeds, religions and languages. Heading off the well worn tourist path, were on a journey that spans this vast subcontinent from east to west, travelling from one of the driest places on earth. Its quite incredible, the sand. I mean, itsjust hard crystals, white salt. You can probably taste it. To one of the wettest. These are areas really for the adventurous traveller. This isnt india on tap. Im on a quest to find out how history, religion and politics have shaped india. And i also meet the people who call this intriguing and sometimes overwhelming country home. Its going to be an amazing journey. For thousands of years, india found its riches and influence through international trade. And at the heart of this enterprise was the sea. And the state of gujarat, with 1,000 miles of coastline, served as a shipping gateway to africa, arabia and beyond. This is as far west as you can get in india, and its the mingling of all the influences from overseas that have helped make gujarat what it is today. The region is known as kutch, and its beaches, like here in mandvi, are a popular Domestic Tourist attraction. But this ancient port towns economy is still anchored in a much older maritime tradition. This is genuinely incredible. Im in heaven. A huge shipyard with boats and ships at various stages of construction, all made from wood. In an industry dominated by bulky and expensive container ships, these smaller, more agile vessels are still in huge demand. So here are, really close up to these incredible hulks. This one is in mid construction. We can actually go inside. Im going to see how they make these things. Apparently, each of these dhows takes two and a half years to make. For many of the workers, shipbuilding is a family tradition. And this ancient craft is now attracting unexpected new admirers. The region of kutch was home to one of the worlds earliest civilisations, and can be traced back to prehistoric times. Its old Royal Capital is the city of bhuj. Its glory days are kind of over. It was badly hit by the 2001 earthquake. Theres a kind of melancholy about this area, because obviously, this was once the real, opulent centre of a rich empire, trading empire anyway, and the hub was here. But what is still flourishing is bhujs aso year old marketjust a few minutes away, where the trading tradition continues. What do they sell here . They sell everything. Fruit, vegetables, fabric, groceries. All cultural backgrounds can be seen in the marketplace. Here, as you can see, all different communities and ethnic groups come here. But kutchs natural harmony was disrupted 70 years ago, when the british left. The country was divided on religious grounds, with muslims partitioned to the north in pakistan, and hindus to the south in india. We drove out of the city towards the border with pakistan, along the way encountering some kutch herdsmen. Theyve been living here for 400 or 500 years. Since, they migrated down south into kutch from sindh, which is now part of pakistan. Ever since the split, theres been tension between the two governments, but to these herdsmen, National Borders and religious differences mean little. For the people of kutch, india and pakistan or hindu muslim is not that important. People are religious, of course, but theyre living in harmony and the relationship between these two different groups is brotherly. When two countries were created from one, indelible scars were left on the psyche of the subcontinent. Archive independence has not yet brought them peace. Rejoicing turned quickly into horror and mourning. In dramatic scenes, more than a Million People died in religious rioting, and many millions more were displaced. This all used to be one, but now its divided in two. And now the border itself has become a tourist attraction. That way is pakistan . That way is pakistan, about 70 kilometres up north. That is where the India Pakistan border is, which lies along the middle of kutch, which is a geographical valley. At nearly 500 metres above sea level, the highest point, kalo dungar hill, allows us a dramatic view of this geological phenomenon, the rann, or desert of kutch, which continues into pakistan. I wanted to get up closer to this natural wonder. Its quite incredible, the sand. I mean, itsjust hard crystals, white salt. You can probably taste it. Really unusual to see Something Like this. The further out i walked, the less lovely it became. Its actually quite incredible. Its more like snow or sludge than white sand or White Crystals when it gets wet around here. Im getting really deep into it. Whoa today, this shimmering wilderness is a healthy source of income for the region, thanks mainly to a three month long festival throughout the winter. It is amazing. What was a vast, barren landscape has been transformed into this colourful complex, whereby at night, theres live music and other performances and by day, theres plenty of other activities. Just here is what you might call the glamping quarters. 50,000 people have come here in the last couple of months alone. I guess this is a cross between a weekend festival and a holiday resort. Its basically a honeypot for the booming middle classes of india in what has been one of the Fastest Growing economies in the world. The revival of interest in kutch culture, boosted by the festival, has been a lifeline for one group of locals in particular, folk musicians. Music in particular is very rich over here. Previously, they used to perform with their cattles, the shepherds. Then afterwards, when they came home, theyd get together and their speech and songs are being performed. Its a day to day practice. One person plays two flutes of the same time . Yes. Now, for example, 500 cattles are there and only one shepherd is there. So hell sit and Start Playing this and whatever musical reach this has, the cattles will not go out of that range. Wow. And they enjoy the music, so the digestive system, the milk output increases. So this is the beauty of it. So its almost like meditation. Yeah. Things are changing, definitely. As you say, tourism, so many Music Festivals are there, so they are invited in various parts of india and abroad. And of course, they are very well paid. And not only do i get a demonstration, but also the privilege of playing along. As lead tinkler. And yet again, im made aware that kutch culture is all about a sense of community and certainly not about religious segregation. From the bottom of my heart, i am telling you till today, in spiritual and music forms, hindus and muslims sit together and perform till today. For the next part of myjourney, im heading to the south east of gujarat, to the town ofjunagadh. The classic Indian Railway station. To me, nothing sums up this country better than the Indian Railway network. More than any political act, they say this is what unifies this country. I remember as a small child being on an indian train and being totally overwhelmed by it. But i love it. Ah, this feels imminent. Who knows when this is made, this train. It looks pretty damn old to me. But wow, look at that. Its a network that ferries millions of Passengers Daily across tens of thousands of track to nearly 7,000 stations. Its one of the worlds biggest employers. If theres one defining legacy of british rule, its the vast, sprawling, creeking Indian Railway network. Its still the lifeblood of the country today. Singing ill tell you this, you wouldnt get this on a suburban train on a cold wednesday morning in london or any other western city. This is unique. You know everyone on this carriage . Yeah. From the train journey . Trainjourney, yeah. Train friends. Excellent, you have a community. Very good. Is it lucky to have a seat on the train . Yes. Very lucky. Shes very lucky. Very lucky 0k so here we are, the ancient fortified city of junagadh, crowded and noisy as i expected. Lets go explore. Just a few minutes from the station, along a dusty, busy road stands this jaw dropping and little known architectural wonder. Built in the late 19th century, this is an elaborate mausoleum blending indian and european architecture. The intricate carvings took over a decade to complete and the whole structure reflects the opulence and influences of the time. Back in the day, under the british raj, there were hundreds of so called princely states run by maharajas, powerful and wealthy men. There was one here, who made decisions which still has ramifications for relations between india and pakistan, even today. They led lavish life styles, in stark contrast to ordinary indians. The nawab ofjunagadh was no different. Archive the state celebrates the marriage of all the pomp and splendour of a princely wedding. Harish was ten in 1946 and recalls the splendour of the ceremony. Archive escorted by the royal guard, the bride groom drives through the streets. Theres a profusion of wedding gifts. All princes were there. Princely patrons with turbans on their heads. Dance girls used to be brought there, musicians and all that. And he recalls getting his first taste of this other world. For the first time, i saw bread, butter, sandwich, everything. Because that was not known to us here. My father said you eat this, this is bread and this is butter. I liked it. There were small pastries. There was huntley and palmer biscuits. Important thing is that the formal photograph of his highness. The nawabs own most legendary indulgence was his love of animals. His love of dogs. I think almost all brands and varieties of dogs from all the world were here. He used to arrange marriages for dogs and celebrated parties and then they were sent for honeymoon. With the advent of independence, the power and influence of indias royal rulers was coming to an end. Come partition, the muslim nawab wanted to makejunagadh part of the newly created islamic pakistan. Even though the town is more than 80 hindu and hundreds of kilometres from the border. Infuriated, the new Indian Government rallied its troops. The news started coming that the army is coming, in its compound, huge tanks and trucks and jeeps and artillery and guns and everything is there. Junagadh state was besieged on three sides also. An economic blockade was ordered, cutting off supplies of foot and resources into the region. Eventually, junagadh acceded to india and the nawab fled to pakistan. Yet to this day, 70 years on, his great grandson still lays claim to junagadh. And the episode lingers as a reminder of the last days of the raj in india. And 65 kilometres down the road, the nawabs legacy as an animal lover extraordinaire continues, with the most regal of creatures. Lions may have iconic status here. Theyre a royal symbol. Theyre in hindu mythology. At the beginning of the last century, they were threatened with extinction. Im going somewhere now, which is the only natural abode of the asiatic lion. These lions are smaller and paler than their african relatives. And these are their modern day protectors, indias first female forest rangers, the so called lion queens. On average, the unarmed rangers cover 25 kilometres a day and have to tackle venomous snakes, leopards and poachers as well as lions. If they did get agitated, how would you be able to tell from the animal . And it did get dangerous early on in her career here. Applications from women for these posts have rocketed and the rangers are role models and trail blazers in the region today. Look, look at that mouth the good news is that from once being in danger of extinction numbers have climbed to over 500. The next murch more welcome problem is if the sanctuary is actually big enough for their growing population. So the first part of my travels across india come to a close. But next week, i head to the north east of the country. Im on the banks of the mighty river and about to go to a very spiritual place. The amount of people crammed on here as well a region that prides itself on tradition and creativity. And a passionate desire to protect this unique part of the world forfuture generations. Hi there. 2017 is finishing on a flourish in the guise of storm dylan. Zooming out to the atlantic, 12 hours ago storm dylan didnt exist, but since then this area of low pressure has formed and it has deepened as it has been racing towards the british isles. This nasty hook of cloud is characteristic of a very deep area of low pressure and that will bring severe gales to the northern half of the uk and a high risk of disruption as we get into new years eve. The met office have already issued an amberwind warning for the strong winds. That will affect Northern Ireland and scotland as we go through new years eve morning. Gusts of 70 80 mph. Aside from that, many will start off with rain, mild in the south and a bit of mountain snow in scotland but it is the wind that take centre stage. Initially the strong wind was with us in Northern Ireland before swinging a cross into scotland. We could see peak gusts of around 80 mph, enough to blow down trees, cause transport disruption and any trees falling down could bring power lines down as well. Power cuts a possibility. The strong winds filtering and funnelling through the central belt of scotland. We could have some very rough weatherfor the morning. Elsewhere across england and wales, many areas starting on a bright note, with sunshine with a bit of rain left over in the south west, clearing really quite quickly. Those strong winds very slow to ease down across central belt of scotland, slowly easing from the second half of the afternoon. Blustery showers continuing to be blown across the uk with these gusty winds with us across all areas and in the showers they will be heavy, some thunder and quite a range of temperatures between 6 and 12 degrees. 0vernight, as we count down to the night celebrations, we will see further showers blown in on those strong winds. Not as cold as it might have been though. Temperatures around four and seven degrees. On new years day, another band in the south, could cause problems with localised flooding and the weather being a problem. Another area of low pressure bringing gusty winds to scotland and Northern Ireland along with outbreaks of rain. We have more unsettled weather coming on tuesday, as we return back to work. Wet weather pushing in and a quite windy day, coolness across the south east but mild across the south west, temperatures into double figures. Looking at the week ahead. Strong winds, further bursts of heavy rain with fairly big changes day by day with our temperatures. That is your latest weather. Hello and welcome to bbc news. Im duncan golestani. Violence has broken out across iran as Anti Government protesters defy warnings from officials, demonstrating for a third day. Two people have reportedly been shot dead. At the same time, pro government rallies have been taking place in the capital tehran with thousands of people showing their support. The Anti Government protests started in mashhad and spread to several parts of the country. They have focused on corruption and falling living standards, but they are becoming increasingly political. Wyre davies reports. Three days in and irans Anti Government protests
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