Don't know Mamma if India is shining I

A few days ago, I was having a discussion with some of my friends about how and why India was doing exceptionally well in various spheres of activities at the International level, like she did never before. Indians are breaking into Forbes' Billionaire lists, they are occupying responsible posts in many important business organizations, Indian researchers are doing wonders in the fields of computer science, mathematics, physics and many more, Indian software professionals are being valued highly all over the world; their economic growth is enviable when the rest of the world suffers and so on. But then I argued that such notable deeds by the Indians were limited to a very minuscule and most importantly to an obtrusively privileged population who could purchase good food, good education and good health which most of the Indians dared not dream of, and therefore, I refused to accept these as Indian achievements; they are rather individual brilliances of those absolutely lucky people who somehow have managed to escape what is typically an Indian scenario. Take help of many statistics, such as literacy rate, per capita income, child molestation, rape, female feticide, basic health, child labor, corruption, female education etc. and try to compare them with those of developed countries. Read this (link via Amit Varma's weblog). This is not a stray incident. Every day I read many of them. I've got used to it. All Indians have got used to it. You may choose to look the other way if they get on your nerves. But that never means that they don't exist.