Romance of my strange quest to take in India (8)
I believe the answer is:
mystique
'romance' is the definition.
(both can mean a glamorous or exciting quality)
'my strange quest to take in india' is the wordplay.
'strange' indicates anagramming the letters.
'to take in' indicates putting letters inside.
'india' becomes 'i' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'quest' with letters rearranged gives 'stque'.
'stque' going around 'i' is 'stique'.
'my'+'stique'='MYSTIQUE'
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for mystique that I've seen before include "Aura of secrecy around skill" , "Air of secrecy" , "Aura or secrecy or obscurity" , "Aura of awe" , "Aura of heightened interest" .)