The unexpected kaleidoscope that is India

India has long been a fascinating country, both familiar and obscure, for me.

Familiar because Indian songs and dances from Bollywood movies such as Awara and Caravan in my adolescent days and Three Idiots in recent years, have always been a source of happiness for me.

Obscure because I have never been able to put the jigsaw of information about India together to get a clear and complete picture of the country. Is it on a fast track to catch up with China as an emerging economic power - with its growing IT clout and robust private sector - or is it still bogged down in mass poverty and corruption, which makes any talk about its imminent ascent vacuous?