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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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The Indian subcontinent as we know it today was created millions of years ago while a huge land mass from the Indian ocean collided with the Asian continent, turning the thousands kilometers alongside the collision zone into succeeding one another chains of mountains. By the way this geological process is still running so the mountains add inches every year. Among them the Himalayas are the most famous and tallest, although by far not the only one. Several Indian states from the northern to the eastern parts of the country offer opportunities for people looking for affordable potential alternatives to the Swiss Alps or the American Rockies. These opportunities have existed since ancient times. Pre-colonial Indian rulers have moved to these areas because of the cooler temperatures during the summer heats. Many people with enough financial background keep this tradition in our days. Given the process of modernization of the Indian society and the escalating desire to embrace the western life style, these mountainous areas can only grow in importance. Among the areas that have already been developed or are already under development there are places of interest in the northwestern part of Uttar Pradesh, in Himachal Pradesh, and of course in Jammu and Kashmir.

Unfortunately, there are problems that still play an opposite role to the desired one and they are mainly linked with security and other political considerations. The following states and union territories, some of them covering a substantial part of the Indian mountainous regions, are declared restricted zones by the Indian government:

• Mizoram
• Manipur
• Nagaland
• Arunachal Pradesh
• Sikkim
• parts of Kulu district
• Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh
• border areas of Jammu and Kashmir
• some areas of Uttaranchal
• the area west of National Highway No. 15 running from Ganganagar to Sanchar in Rajasthan
• the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; and
• the Union Territory of the Laccadives Islands (Lakshadweep).

Advanced permission to foreigners is required in order to visit these places. Outbursts of interethnic or inter-religious violence on different scale are reported from all mountainous states without exception, beginning with the northern Jammu and Kashmir and ending up with the eastern Sikkim. In addition to the Indian authorities restrictions many foreign governments have issued travel warnings to their citizens not to enter one or another state along the Indian borders. Indian mountains can be potential gold mines, but the gold rush isn't around the corner.

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