It's intriguing to see how CEOs of multinational Corpns or some firang prof from one remote (!) corner of the world scribbles and lectures on India's "prospering middle-class" or for that matter, "India's emerging rural consumer", by quoting (weird) statistics with regard to GDP (why can't it be Gross Domestic Poverty?!) etc. I, of India's "always-in-battle class", would like to extend a reality s...how (!) invite to all these intellects and decision-fakers (!) and urge them to step out of comforts of their air-conditioned homes and offices to experience life of the common citizen on the salary she/he draws and is slaughtered in overcrowded trains and buses, struggles to "adjust" monthly household budgets (KAB pehli tareekh hai?!) and for whom the basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter only remain a dream! Delving even deeper into the veins of the hinterlands of India, would help the aforesaid commentators-on-India see why farmers (who provide us with our daily meal!) commit suicides (ironically, India is still an agricultural country!), electricity is a term that's virtually unheard of, and how complete scarcity of clean drinking water compels rural folks to walk for miles to fetch a pail of water (!); not-to-mention, education, health and sanitation are near-extinct super-luxury items! Of course, at the helm of so much "development" sit some of India's most qualified economists; now, I did hear someone say there are lies, damn lies and statistics, huh?!