 Three-quarters of the overwhelming majority of India's nearly one billion people still live in villages and not big cities Just as they always have Her farmers still feed one-sixth of the world's population who live in a country one-third the size of the United States A population which speaks more than a dozen languages and a thousand dialects and which supports more than 20 political parties in The world's largest and one of its youngest democracy Two Indians live side-by-side in a stark contrast that alternately maddened and delights Bender series from a more authentic India arrive in New Delhi each morning from their homes They converge at Central Secretariat the seat of administration to attend to the business of the nation the British had left behind canals roads railways and a civil service and Precious little else India could not feed itself and was virtually without industry Its people were overwhelmingly illiterate and its society plagued by social and economic disparities At the moment of her birth the country was divided into two Even as one-sixth of the population of the world was being liberated from colonial rule at the stroke of the midnight hour Nation and her people were being torn apart The greatest migration in the history of the subcontinent was about to begin More than 15 million people were uprooted Displaced Muslims heading towards Pakistan passed long shuffling columns of homeless Hindus and Sikhs streaming into India Today's India is plugged into the world economy Virtually anything from French perfume to American basketball sneakers is now available at the glass-fronted local department stores The only visible reminder that this is still India is the bullock cart Which has also been overtaken by the views of change Modern India has still not lost contact with the old India where Maharaja still entertain their guests Their guests are tourists from around the world in search of old India where memories of the past loom large reflecting the passions of a bygone era in history's shadow India lives Alive to the needs of tomorrow's children to the dreams of a prosperous India