Sanjeev Bhaskar, comedian and writer behind ‘The Kumars at No. 42’ embarks with an epic and highly personal journey through modern India. Sanjeev’s characteristic humour and exclusive perspective type the heart of the audiobook that accompanies his moves for the BBC2 series.

Exotic and diverse, richly colourful and intriguingly complex – India is among the many exciting countries to go to in the world today. Sanjeev Bhaskar of ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ and ‘The Kumars at No. 42’ , grew about India with Sanjeev Bhaskar up in 70s surburban west London, so his regular family members appointments to India to find out his relatives offered him an endless fascination because of its bizarre contradictions. Today Sanjeev is certainly going back with a BBC film crew to delve deeper into what makes this nation such a compelling phenomenon.

As Sanjeev moves from Delhi to Bombay, Jaipur to Calcutta, he meets ordinary and outstanding Indian people from every background, and brings his organic warmth and feeling of humour to these encounters. Although often baffled from the eccentricities of India, our endearingly good-natured guide never fails to discover humour in these circumstances.

‘Sanjeev’s India’ can be a personal trip as Sanjeev meets old family members who reveal their shifting and frequently traumatic tales of India’s turbulent and bloody past, and involves understand a bit more about his very own roots.

During his trip Sanjeev is normally asked to a middle-class wedding in Delhi as well as witnessing the poverty from the slums in the Calcutta backstreets. He wryly observes the polo-playing Maharajah jet-set in Jaipur as well as the kitsch of Bombay Bollywood, and experiences the Ganges lit up with a million floating candles for the historic ritual of Diwali and the majestic colonial architecture of the British isles Raj.

With this engaging and thoughtful travelling companion, we come across ourselves going beyond the clichés to reveal a country steeped in history yet in the forefront of new technology, at once confusing, astonishing and jaw-droppingly beautiful.