I think this is one way in which India is decidedly unAmerican (sorry for borrowing an O'Reillyism). Whereas you or I would gape in horror at the kind of povert

I think this is one way in which India is decidedly unAmerican (sorry for borrowing an O'Reillyism). Whereas you or I would gape in horror at the kind of poverty that permeates modern India, most "elite" Indians are quite desensitized to the situation. After all, you don't have much of a choice when you see that sort of thing on a daily basis. Also, people in India are more likely to take a relative view of things, given that they see things from an historical perspective as well. As it states here[0], the literacy rate last year was 75%, which is an enormous improvement over the 12% at the end of British rule. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_India