The Chandela dynasty it is sometimes suggested were entertaining the gods with their carvings in order to divert wrath – a ploy

The Chandela dynasty, it is sometimes suggested, were entertaining the gods with their carvings in order to divert wrath – a ploy which seems to have worked.Tacking back westwards, you reach Sanchi, a 3rd-century BC Buddhist hilltop site whose carving astonishes even recent veterans of Khajuraho. Both are easily accommodated, meeting only on the upper corridors and the hanging balconies of the beautiful Jahangir Mahal, still flecked with the remains of cobalt and turquoise tiles which must have made the palace gleam for the Muslim Emperor Jahangir when he visited his Bundela allies in the 17th century.Best viewed from the medieval bridge across the Betwa are the 14 royal sandstone cenotaphs, massive square tributes tapering to jagged points further ornamented by vultures’ profiles. More elegant are the Hindo-Islamic style chhattris, marble burial chambers of the Gwalior family supported by columns inlaid with lapis lazuli and onyx, lit through blue glass windows and pervaded with a sense of well-tended peace.The onward road is better because you are occasionally enjoying Uttar Pradesh’s more generous maintenance budget but the bonnet of the Ambassador will be rising and falling in grand style by the time you reach Orchha, a palace complex bristling with vultures and, nowadays, a few tourists. The motorised launches destroy all peace as they negotiate the strong current but do give fine views of riverbed- combers filtering the holy waters for rupees, and tense Western campers trying for enlightenment while simultaneously defending their backpacks from roaming bands of monkeys.The Sri Omkareshwar Mahadeo temple contains one of India’s 12 naturally- formed jyotirlingas, thrust up from the rocky hillside and believed to be a representation of Siva. The surrounding lanes, which have been periodically ransacked by Muslim aggressors, now heave with pilgrims clutching their souvenir stone phalluses, and the intensely devotional atmosphere is reminiscent of Varanasi, India’s holiest city in adjoining Uttar Pradesh.Hubbing back into Indore, head north to Shivpuri which offers one of the state’s several National Parks (mainly deer and tigers captive behind tennis-court wire) nicely viewed from the verandah of George Castle, a solid folly put up for the Emperor, King George V in 1911, but never graced by him. The magnificent views from this perch, 300 metres above the vast plain, run into South India, said to begin at the far bank of the river, which flows East to West from your next destination, Maheshwar.The temples and fort complex of this ancient city were revitalised by the 18th- century Holkar queen, Rani, whose descendants still occupy the palace, manage production of the area’s famous striped saris and swim with commoners from the ghats (stairs leading to the river) every day.After another two-hour, axle-flexing drive up the Narmada, your Ambassador lets you out at Omkareshwar, an isolated village built on a sacred island shaped like the Hindu symbol Om. Evidence of heat-beating strategies – serpentine water channels and wind funnels, for example – abound in Mandu, though the method most favoured by today’s “citizens of joy” is leaping in and out of the great, green water tanks.But Mandu’s highlight is Roopmati’s Pavilion, built by Baz Bahadur for his Hindu mistress who insisted on overlooking the sacred River Narmada.

Also in the Royal Enclave lies the beautiful Hindola Mahal, or Swing Palace, with its sloping walk, and the Champa Baodi, an underground well, once perfumed with champak flowers, which has specially ventilated cool- rooms for surviving the summer. Then, three years ago, the new owners threw open the doors, scrubbed the Italian marble floors and repainted the walls to turn it into one of India’s most fascinating independent hotels.The 15th-century ruler of Mandu, Ghiyath Shah, confirmed its reputation as the City of Joy by installing his 15,000-strong harem in what he called the Ship Palace, “crewed” by a further 1,000 Turkish female bodyguards. Nowadays, 1,600 students do battle for grades, pausing only to play hockey and cricket against archrivals Mayo College, an even princelier institution an overnight train ride away, up the line in Rajasthan.An Ambassador and driver – a combination which can still be had for less than 1,000 rupees a day (about pounds 15) – should take you west towards Mandu, the walled city, pleasure resort and royal capital, via an astonishing Art Deco palace, the Jhira Bagh, which is now a luxury hotel.A royal row meant that its huge Bauhaus halls and suites, uplit by GEC, were unused from the moment the old palace was modernised in 1943. However, the destinations, which can be linked by hired Ambassador – rolling like a mother ship amid the troughs and crests of tarmac – into a large figure of eight, are worth a dozen brimming sick-bags.
Indore is now labelled the Baby of Bombay, and already spews forth enough pollution to make any parent proud (currently seventh in the nation’s smog parade) but it makes a practical starting point being just an hour from both Delhi and Bombay by plane. Its own palace does not, however, live up to the gates which are exact replicas of those outside Buckingham Palace, and an outsize Queen Victoria sneers at its fussy facade from her plinth in the overgrown garden.Far more splendid is the marble main building of The Daly College Public School, founded a century ago for the education of the local prince and about a dozen others who arrived by elephant with the servants from their far-flung estates. AS YOU enter Madhya Pradesh, your car hits a highly effective system of speed bumps created by the brutal double action of sun and rain. Workers occasionally try to flatten them with picks and mallets, but this state’s entire road network – barring a stretch north of Indore built by Daewoo eager to sell their smooth-riding cars to the rich – is speed-bumped by the gods.

And however demanding her own schedule has been she’s always put herself out to turn up for us, unveiling plaques, lending her voice She’s an excellent public speaker, she’s very cerebral. And that’s what has always distinguished her as an actress, of course. She’s never joined the theatrical mainstream, she’s an individual.! The new Sadler’s Wells theatre opens on 12 October Name a Seat scheme: 0171 713 0754 `Phedre’ opens on Wednesday at the Albery: 0171 368 1740.. We visited Diana when she was doing Medea in New York, and we took her back after the show to our hotel apartment and spent a very long evening playing bridge and eating soft- shell crabs – a great combination.Diana’s been wonderfully supportive of my work for Sadler’s Wells, which has involved organising fund-raising events in aid of building the new theatre. And it wasn’t until after my marriage that we began to meet up more often Georg and Diana admired each other very much. Music isn’t particularly Diana’s thing, but they each admired the other’s professionalism And they were both very keen on bridge. It had to be on the breath, centred, not too far back in the throat, not too far forward in your nose “Received pronunciation” didn’t exist You either spoke correctly or you didn’t.

If you had a few vowels that were not quite right, you worked at them.At the end of two years we all dispersed Diana’s first job was in Chester- field if I remember I went to Reading rep and we lost touch for a while. Very soon she was in the RSC playing Cordelia, which was the beginning of success for her. Wake up Assyria and face the reality!” – Wilfred AlkhasKOSOVA FRONTLINEThe Kosovar Albanian newspaper Koha Ditore posts bulletins that offer flashes, skirmish by skirmish, of the kind that tend not to feature in reports on the war in Kosova. Western audiences don’t care for such plot complications.ASSYRIA’S LANDLESS EMPIREAny dispersed ethnic group with a presence in the United States is likely to have a presence on the Web, but few have taken to hypermedia with the flair of the Assyrians. There was so much to cope with: a big city, living alone, and a course that one was ill-prepared for.Leaving home to study was seen as rather a racy thing to do, though in truth the ratio of boys to girls was pretty hopeless. There was still National Ser-vice in 1956, so a lot of boys who might have wanted to act were doing that. But in fact it didn’t make any odds to us because Valerie and I were completely and utterly untouched by human hand and deeply naive.