You can't even begin to compare poverty levels and living conditions of the lower class.

It's true that the poverty in India is worst than in America, But you can't speak for the homless here either. how do you know that they (Indian & American) lower class don't have any similarities in the way they percieve their existance? surely you don't think that a lower class person in India has it worse than any homless person in the states. Cause then you would be saying that there is no way that one is more miserable or unhappy than the other. there is just no way for you to speak on behalf of them unless you in fact have been in their shoes. I personally know someone who has been down that road, and that person has had a REALLY hard life I won't say what he went thru out of respect but trust me anyone in America can have it just as bad or even worse than someone in India, Vice Versa.

I have never been to India, but I did work with several of them (Ibm) my point of view... Nice people overall, funny accent, spicy food, well educated people but for some reason they didnt like to talk about their country too much. As for the country goes, a huge population, lots of languages, crazy movies, they love cricket, a driving mess for what I have seen.

You guys are always fighting with Pakistan.

Also, a lot of good American doctors come from there so the stereotype over here is that you're smart. Not a bad one to have.

Caste system, widespread poverty, riddled with disease and famine. India is run by corrupt politicians and corporations.Huge social inequality: gap between rich and poor in India is far wider than developed nations. Millions of beggars on the street and slums. The rich privileged minority live in palaces and drive around in luxury sports cars: BMWs, Mercedes, Porsche, Lanborghini, Ferrari, etc.

India is only second to China in regards to being the destination of choice for corporations outsourcing jobs.
India had a great culture and history prior to the British colonialists settlers ruined the country.

Indian food is very hot and spicy and may not be palatable to foreigners sensitive to spicy foods.

My thoughts on India:

1) India is the cradle of civilization

2) The British did more than the Moguls to destroy the ancient culture and knowledge of India, to this end;

2.1) The Aryan Invasion is clearly false
2.2) Sanskrit does not get recognized for what it is - the most perfect language ever conceived
2.3) The general perception of Hinduism is a facade created by the British (once again there is clear proof)
2.4) The Indian people themselves have been left without the heritage of their own spiritual culture (the word Hindu isn't even Vedic!)
2.5) Raping a country this much and never apologizing taints a country with shame

3) My favourite place in India is the old city of Jagannatha Puri

" I am convinced that everything has come down to us from the banks of the Ganga (Ganges), - astronomy, astrology, metempsychosis, etc...It is very important to note that some 2,500 years ago at the least Pythagoras went from Samos to the Ganga (Ganges) to learn geometry...But he would certainly not have undertaken such a strange journey had the reputation of the Brahmins' science not been long established in Europe..." ~Voltaire

Overcrowded buses and trains
Millions of poor people who can't afford food, living near to rich people that live lives of luxury
Terrible drivers and roads
Call centres
Very religious

India is still quite a spitural place.

If you go to a lot of the holy sites, especially in the mountains its quite an experience.

At some point, heavy-handed socialism (or some form of state-driven development) is necessary in developing countries. If you make the jump straight from traditional to neo-liberal, you just end up with severe abuses of the system.

There is always a point when the lack of democracy and of free market becomes more of a hindrance than its worth, but ultimately most societies have needed a period of tyrannic supervision to oversee the transition from traditionalism to modernity, with America and Great Britain being on a very small list of exceptions.

caste system is probably one of the problems in the country.

I like curry and roti

Some relatives of mine visited the Taj Mahal. Before entering the palace everyone must remove their footwear. When they came back to pick up their shoes and sandals it was all gone. lol

I lived in Bangalore for 3 months and I work in a company with many Indians. So I have opinions on both the country and the people, will start with the country:

The country is a mess, the respect for basic civic rules is well bellow what I expected, the drivers and people don't obey the traffic signals, many throw garbage on the street, and the personal hygiene is not very good, I was actually surprised to find so little sick people.

The distribution of wealth is another big problem, Bangalore as a technology capital has growth very much but in a messy way, you can easily find nice, big, smart buildings next to the most poor of the house made of pieces of wood, plastic and metallic material.

The goverment has a lot of control over many thing but at the same time is very corrupt and it seems the same clans or families get elected every time.

The food is too spicy in the south and I can't get used to people eating everything with their hands. In the north the situation improves a little as you can actually find non spicy food as the basic condiments don't always include 3 kinds of pepper and 2 of chili.

The tv is heavely censored, they had a lot of good local and international channels with great movies with a lot of cuts, including some that I could not understand because it were not violence or sex related.

The noise, o my god the noise, it was driving me crazy, people who own a car think they own the road so they honk for everything, one almost hit me with his car because it was in a traffic jam and he took the sidewalk to move.

A lot of their entertainment rotates around their movies, most of the music they hear and the videos they see are taken from the upcoming movies, that is part of the reason almost all their movies have singing and dancing.

It has many nice and historical places to see, they have a rich ancestral culture with temples and castle to visit, and since their invasion and independece was not very long ago many of the places are still standing.

They have a real communication problems as almost every state has its own lenguage, even if Hindi is the official one, the protection of lenguages act prevents from teaching it as the only one, so most of them must learn english to survive and is the goverment one as is the only understood almost everywhere but the accent and vocabulary is not so good. That leads to many regional jealousy.

Ok, that should be all for the country, next time I will comment on the people.