Why hope and disappointment always seem to co-exist in India

Travelling around the country and meeting people is an uplifting experience but there’s also much that can dampen spirits

- KAUSHIK BASU

Last month, I travelled across India— listening, observing and taking stock.

While the journey was energizing and often inspiring, it left me with an open question: Where is the world’s most populous country headed? My trip began in West Bengal’s Purulia district, a relatively poor region marked by beautiful landscapes of lakes and rolling hills, some crowned with small ancient temples. Purulia’s population is a mosaic of cultures and tribal communities. Among them are Santhals, an Adivasi community whose ancestors arrived in the subcontinent thousands of years ago, long before the Indo-Aryan migrations around 1600 BCE reshaped its social order.