Leave shortly, heading for India on holiday (8)
I believe the answer is:
vacation
'holiday' is the definition.
(I know that holiday can be written as vacation)
'leave shortly heading for india on' is the wordplay.
'leave' becomes 'vacate' (to vacate a place is to leave it).
'shortly' means to remove the last letter.
'heading for' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'india on' becomes 'ion' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'vacate' with its final letter taken off is 'vacat'.
'vacat'+'ion'='VACATION'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for vacation that I've seen before include "An American holiday" , "Leisure time away from work" , "Holiday period" , "Leave" , "break" .)