A Varied Palette

Most travelers equate maharastra with Mumbai, and look no further. Those who do are surprised-and rewarded- by the sheer range of its offerings. Take pune. For years travelers have thought of it as a languid town inhabited by retired folk and oshoites. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the course of an average day in pune, you could paraglide, catch the latest Hollywood blockbuster at a swank multiplex, swap recipes with international chefs, see a centuries-old fort, and wind down with a bottle of wine picked up from the wineries just outside town. Then there’s aurangabad, with one of the most spectacular of which is unparalleled. And for lovers of history, there are the innumerable forts that dot the state-unlike the more embellished forts of rajasthan, these are intriguing for their secret entrances, moats and underground passage ways.