India: Its people, its places

India is supposed to be growing at a fast pace. Well, at least it was growing faster than all countries except its northern giant neibour, China, till crude prices rose sky high.
But India remains the cradle of poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy, systemic chaos, superstitions, disparities and what not.
One of the 10 richest people in the world, one in ten biggest companies in the world and one in ten most powerful people in the world are Indian and yet the middle age scourge of untouchability has not been fully wiped out.
India is the biggest and quite buzzing democracy in the midst of non-democratic neighborhood all around. But it is the political class that undermines development of the country by its omissions and comissions.
To keep things where they are, there is corruption 'in every walk of life', to use a highly abused jargon.
India has seen numerous attacks in the past, but while the looters and conquerers took away a lot of wealth from India, they left their mark on the land. This, along with more presentable achievements of the past, make India a cauldron of civilization. It can boast of co-existence of world's biggest religions - Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Budhism, Jainism and Sikhism - and also Zoroastrianism [a religion that has become extinct in its place of birth, i.e. Pesia], among the most ancient scriptures and discoveries that the mankind has produced, folk traditions that can be traced to centuries back. Along with this history and tradition lives a generation for whom dollars and America and wealth by any means are what count, a generation that boils up on the slightest provocation, also a generation that finds its roots a huge, pathetic burden.