Travel shows are fun and informative. We get to know more about the history of the place and the culture before ever visiting the place. But what’s more important, we get to know where to go, places to visit and an food to try. And although India is not alien to travelers from Britain, Joanna Lumley goes off the beaten track to know more about the country she was born in. In Joanna Lumley’s India on ITV, Joanna returns to the country of her birth for a deeply personal journey around the vibrant and unique country of India.
A year older than Independent India itself, Joanna was born in India into the last days of The Raj and India was home to both sides of her family for several generations. she spends time in the place where her maternal grandparents lived during the 1920s and 30s, when her grandfather, Lieutenant-Colonel Leslie Weir, was the Political Officer of Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet. It was where her mother lived when she was small and so holds a strong family connection for Joanna.
Joanna Lumley’s India Travels
Joanna Lumley’s India – Episode 1
In episode one, Joanna travels from the very south of the country all the way to the foothills of the Himalayas.
- In Madurai she explores the multi-coloured and dazzling Meenakshi temple which comes alive at night with religious celebration.
- At the Western Ghats, Joanna meets old friend Robin Brown who has spent half his life travelling through India on his beloved motorbike.
- After perusing the jewellery markets of Hyderbad, Joanna explores the world’s biggest film studio complex for new movie industry, Tollywood.
- The British Empire made a fortune from Calcutta’s raw materials and Joanna meets 67 year old Latta Bajoria who defied expectations by refusing to sell the family jute empire when her husband died.
- Her journey ends four hundred miles north of Calcutta, in Sikkim, at the foot of the Himalayas. Her grandfather remained stationed here for many years and it is where her mother grew up.
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