Nothing really prepared me for India.

It's a maddening, astonishing and saddening country, all within the same moment. It assaults the senses. It challenges ideas about life and humanity. India surprises me at every turn, continually reminding me that everything I take for granted -- clean water, my own physical space, medical care, access to a livable income -- is something that almost everyone I see has never experienced.

Even at 4:30 a.m., India puts me face to face with its essence. I arrived in Delhi, India's capital, bleary from an all-night flight. As I stepped off the plane, the heat and humidity hit me hard. I noticed a faint smell of something burning. A large, black cow, lying serenely outside the front entrance, looked at me lazily.

Drivers, sleeping on their motorized rickshaws, came to life and surrounded me, pushing for an opportunity to take me into town. Their rickshaws were both their livelihood and their homes. Nearby, dozens of people slept in various positions on the concrete, oblivious.

It started to rain as I boarded my prearranged taxi and took off into the night. As I rode to town, India unfolded before me. Ramshackle slums with homes made of corrugated metal surrounded a roadside strewn with trash and cow dung. An occasional light bulb burned within them, clandestinely connected to the city's power grid. Groups of people stood along the road, the place where most of life's daily activities take place.

I came to Delhi, India's fastest growing city, to meet with an administrative assistant I've been working with for several months. We are pursuing a plan to grow his company from a sole entrepreneur into a small, thriving firm that not only creates opportunities for its owner but also creates jobs in a city where unemployment and poverty run rampant.

I also came to India to see, first hand, what rampant poverty looks like up close. I want to see what might be done to create opportunity among a population that comprises one-sixth of humanity. I came to make a connection with other like-minded entrepreneurs and those who are attempting to instigate change in a country that has been written off by many as hopelessly unsalvageable.

India's Challenges

India has the world's second largest population, exceeded only by China, and crossed the billion mark in May 2000. The Census of India (www.censusindia.net) has a population counter that rises by about 29 people per minute. India is expected to become the world's most populous nation in the next couple of decades.

Poverty remains widespread, despite 50 years of attempts to lessen its effects. The gross national product per capita is $360 US per year. Preventable diseases such as leprosy, malaria, and tuberculosis account for half of all reported illnesses. In 2000, India recorded 3.7 million cases of HIV, the highest number of HIV infections in the world. That number could swell to 31 million by 2010.

India's monumental air pollution problem is the equivalent to smoking 1 to 2 packs of cigarettes a day. Cars, motorcycles, and diesel-belching trucks fill the chaotic roads, vying with bicycles, ox-drawn carts and pedestrians.

India has the world's largest number of poor people in a single country, with a per-capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) under US $1000. Of its nearly 1 billion inhabitants, an estimated 350-400 million are below the poverty line, larger than the population of the United States.

Education is free and compulsory for all up to the age of 14. Two thirds of children are enrolled, although most do not attend school regularly. Girls are underrepresented. The national dropout rate in 1997-98 for secondary school students was 69 percent. At least at least half of all students from rural areas drop out before completing secondary school. According to a 1991 census, the literacy rate was about 50 percent, with the rate for males double that of girls.

More than 10,000 colleges and universities nationwide enroll over 7 million people. The quality of many schools has been called into question, despite government attempts to improve it. Many of India's brightest students go abroad to pursue higher degrees, and many never return.

Over the last few years, due in large part to its highly skilled and inexpensive workforce, India has become a popular offshore labor destination for multinational companies looking to save money by outsourcing. India is an increasingly popular destination for IT companies seeking software developers, and for companies looking to outsource everything from call centers to administrative functions.

Surprisingly, given its population size, Internet use is limited within the country. By mid-2001, the number of subscribers was only about 1.5 million people. The India government is said to be worried about the digital divide between the haves and have-nots and its ramifications for growth in societal inequalities. This divide could be exacerbated, as southern India receives the lion's share of new IT investments.

Just as India challenges the senses, it also challenges assumptions. Big problems have no easy solution. It's been said that Indians suffer silently. To be optimistic about India is a monumental task. But the alternative is not acceptable.