India–a modern rising economic and political world power and ancient complex civilization, a country and civilization ripe with paradoxes, diversities, idiosyncrasies, and remarkable growth. Now is the time to gain an appreciation and understanding of this, the world’s largest democracy. In India there are examples of virtually every known type of societal division–six major religions: Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism; two major language families: Aryan and Dravidian; eighteen official languages and innumerable dialects and tribal languages; three racial strains: Aryan, Dravidian, and proto-Australoid; and over 4,000 castes–hierarchically ranked, endogamous, and occupational. The great Indian tradition unites its diverse cultural regions, but within its elastic framework lies a myriad of sects and local traditions. Perhaps more than anything else, traditional India has been characterized by localism, a fragmentation not simply of cultural-linguistic regions but of its 600,000 villages themselves.

Deep religious and political traditions are visible everywhere, but for all its historical heritage, contemporary India is undoubtedly a creation of the modern world—shaped by different ideas of modernity.

A huge English-speaking, educated talent pool combined with widespread use of the latest technology has turned India into the back-office of the world, and most notably a major destination for outsourced jobs. India is an unfolding story of a billion-plus people (one-sixth of the world’s population) on the move as its large and complex systems rapidly evolve and the country emerges as one of the fastest growing economies of the world. The shadows of a vibrant consumer society are taking shape and urban population is exposed to massive change in life style, consumption habits, and cultural conditioning. These are also the times of doubt and serious retrospection for India. Despite India’s impressive economic growth over recent decades, it still contains the largest concentration of poor people in the world. Being a melting pot, India could potentially help to provide answers to many of the problems the world faces today. Come to India and gain a sense of this fascinating, complex country!