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There was a time when India was known as the land of snake-charmers. Then people started identifying it as the land having the majestic Taj, the ferocious Tiger and the great desert Thar. But with each turn that the wheel of time took, Indians have proven to be a lot more. And so has India proved the belief to be wrong. From time immemorial, India has been seen as a mystery land. A land full of paradoxes, it causes travellers to marvel and also to despair during their journey through India. Like an enigmatic lady, India has always attracted the attention of the world for various reasons.

The famous writer and traveller, Mark Twain (the pen name of Samuel Clemens), wrote after his sojourn through India in 1896: "So far as I am able to judge nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his round. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked. Always, when you think you have come to the end of her tremendous specialities and have finished hanging tags upon her as the Land of the Plague, the Land of Famine, the Land of Giant Illusions, the Land of Stupendous Mountains and so forth, another speciality crops up or another tag is required." It was best he decided, to discard the labels and call it simply the Land of Wonders.

Over the ages, India has experienced hundreds of years of foreign invasions and influence, yet it still manages to absorb and change everything the world cares to impose on it, remaining at its core untouched. If anything, it has developed into a multi-linguistic, home for masses of many religions. Although India has modernised to a great deal, old traditions and ancient cultural rhythms continue to have a strong hold over the functioning of the nation.

India is the second largest populated country in the world, and has an economy among the world's top 15, yet 70 per cent of its people live off the land as their ancestors did and struggle to subsist. It is the world?s largest democracy. India has millions who enjoy educational standards approaching those of the West, while more than 60 per cent of the population cannot read. It has research foundations both for space vehicles and for oxcarts.

In this country poverty is very stark and widespread while fantastic wealth is enjoyed by a small elite. India's wealthiest industrialists live in an sumptuous manner. Such segregated economic classes often shock the Westerners. Some wonder how such contradiction can survive together. The answer lies partly in a strong, social fabric, bound by tradition.

India is still a profoundly religious country and the Hindu faith deems it a virtue to come to terms with one's lot, no matter how lowly. The people believe that they were born into the level of society most advantageous for their spiritual evolution. Rich or poor did not matter as much as the potential for spiritual growth within the social strata most suited to their needs. Resentments do sometimes flare up but considering all the tinder for conflict, India is more notable for its tolerance than rifts. The stabilising power of tradition is evident everywhere in India, a country that rejects almost nothing of its heritage.

Most of the time, the rich co-exist with the poor, the Hindus with the Muslims, northerners with the southerners, imperial relics with national institutions. India, long an industrial nation, is becoming a force to be reckoned with in computer and space research. In the same cities where beggars are omnipresent, there thrives a highly advanced technology to rival anything in the West. Meanwhile, the old ways continue.

Unlike most countries, India has a rich and glorious past going back to thousands of years back. A lot of heritage to pass on to generations. Also a lot to learn from. In fact, its in the Vedic scriptures that the key to a lot scientific and medical mysteries have been found. India's cultural heritage goes back uninterrupted to the time when ancient civilisations had thrived in Babylon, Nineveh and Thebes. The city of Varanasi, a contemporary of those civilisations, is a symbol of that continuity.

The charm and the magic of this land has given rise to legendary figures like the Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. India is a land of bitter ethnic rivalries while at the same time the birthplace of the philosophy of non-violent resistance, called `ahimsa'. This country is today going through a series of terrorist killing.

Few places on earth embrace such juxtapositions. India is a land where anything is possible, where the fantasies are almost a matter of course, where all the flavours are strong.