India - An Odd Dichotomy

Growing up, I also heard from my father who went to India about the filth and grime and poverty that was India. 25 years on, when i first went to the world's largest democracy last year, I thought it would be better and it'd be different. Because the trip last year was so hectic, I didn't get to see much of the city. On the trip the past week, i did manage to see Delhi and Mumbai in greater detail. I think this picture shows what Im trying to say. Here i am high up in this decent five-star hotel and in the cityscape, i can see a shantytown on the right hand side of the picture and offices on the left hand side. I have read and learnt about shantytowns in pri/sec school textbooks but have never really seen one. They look all right from the top but when you're on street level, you can see the sire conditions they live in. India has some of the world's nicest hotels and yet some of the neighbours of these hotels are the poorest around. Quite sad really.