Flowering

Not cellphones. Not 9 percent growth. Not a booming stock market, or even a booming anything (to tell you the truth I'm sort of sick of that word "booming").

No, it's really none of these, nothing like these, that gives me cause to be optimistic about India. What instead fills me with hope are stories like you will find here. Because these are stories of grit and self-belief that overcome great obstacles, and what could be more inspiring?

Not long ago, I saw Tom Friedman in a TV interview. In almost reverential terms, he spoke about how India is witnessing a flowering of aspirations that have been "suppressed too long." To me, it's just that flowering that you see in this feature.

Don't believe me? Check those smiles.

Thanks to a quiet journalist whom I have a lot of respect for, Archana Masih of rediff.com, for telling us these stories.