Whatever claim you make about India the opposite will also be true.

This makes it a pretty difficult country to write about. But by my own logic, it also makes it a very easy country to write about.

And yes, there is tons to report after a mere few days in the country. The problem is that few of it would go beyond the most cliché.

To say India is land of contrasts is not only old-hat, it’s also vacuous. It offers little of value.

Anyone can see the blaring gulfs between neighbouring realities: The land of Buddha and Gandhi still has a merciless caste system. You walk past a fetid slum where children defecate on the sidewalk and step into a movie theatre with designer toilets and food served to your seat.

You see men beach-bathing in the skimpiest underwear, but who would never wear shorts on the street lest they look like riffraff. Cows and goats loiter the streets like so many stray dogs. Indian homes are spotless but public spaces filthy. Raw sewage attacks your nostrils and incense soothes them.

Wouldn’t be caught dead wearing shorts.

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But this does nothing to explain the country; it’s expository information. So many people know what is India. Few are those who can tell you why is India.

Even attempting to explain India is disingenuous, since “India” is a geopolitical entity, a huge grab-bag of ethnicities, languages, and customs. A cook in Tamil Nadu has little in common with a banker in Calcutta.

But since opposites are also true, those two will share a lot of traits.

The country is too big, the traditions too fluid, the mythologies too permanent for summarizing. Thinking otherwise is just irresponsible.

I have two months here. If by the end I’m able to understand just a fraction I’ll consider it a great feat.