I'm not sure how recently you've seen them, but they've improved a lot in the past two years. MTV has entered the market, so there are now three music channels in most viewing areas. Competition seems to have improved the product. Bollywood movies have also improved dramatically. Aside from being mostly in Hindi and having Indian actors, they actually seem quite American. Of course, they still break out into song and dance at unpredictable moments. But it wouldn't be Bollywood if that didn't happen.

Sadly, aside from entertainment, cell phone service and call centers, the rest of India remains extremely dysfunctional. About a third of India lives a life not much better than their ancestors 500 years ago. They can't read, they have no electricity, telephones or running water, and they can't afford a motorcycle. Their only contact with modern technology is the flatbed truck that takes them to and from their work. While the improvements to the higher ends of society are admirable, they really need to improve their education system. Fifty percent illiteracy is not sustainable in the modern world. To their credit, the education budget went up 20% this year, but 200% is closer to what's needed.

Not if you measure it in megatons under command!

And I don't mean that in a good way. I mean that in the way I'd describe a collision involving a tanker full of Nitrous Oxide, a fireworks truck, and the 1964 Dallas Cowboys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA-451XMsuY

And no, you aren't tripping. It really is that weird. And if you are tripping, that video will probably send you to the hospital.

“Those who listened unwarily to that voice could seldom report the words that they heard; and if they did, they wondered, for little power remained in them.

“Mostly they remembered only that it was a delight to hear the voice speaking, all that it said seemed wise and reasonable, and desire awoke in them by swift agreement to seem wise themselves. When others spoke they seemed harsh and uncouth by contrast; and if they gainsaid the voice, anger was kindled in the hearts of those under the spell.

“For some the spell lasted only while the voice spoke to them, and when it spake to another they smiled, as men do who see through a juggler’s trick while others gape at it. For many the sound of the voice alone was enough to hold them enthralled; but for those whom it conquered the spell endured when they were far away, and ever they heard that soft voice whispering and urging them.

“But none were unmoved; none rejected its pleas and its commands without an effort of mind and will, so long as its master had control of it.”

"The Voice of Saruman"