Traveling across India, from Mumbai to Jaipur and Delhi to Agra, the Columbia Chazen International Study Tour was privileged to see the expansiveness of Indian society--from the high-class bungalows of Delhi's members of Parliament to the extreme depths of poverty of the Mumbai slums. India is a country of dichotomies: it faces the problems of a land torn between its humble agricultural roots and its projected future position as a global superpower. While only 21 percent of India's GDP is driven by agriculture, more than 70 percent of the population depend on agriculture for their income (Source: The World Bank).

Compared to previous years, this Chazen trip to India proved to be a special and unique experience. During the course of our journey, the world witnessed three forces that forever changed India and pushed forward its evolution as a nation. First, a few weeks prior to leaving, we all sat in horror as we witnessed the Mumbai attacks unfold via live television. Second, during the trip, Satyam, one of the top outsourcing and software-services companies in the world, admitted to a massive accounting fraud by revealing that it had significantly overstated its earnings over the past few years. Lastly, as we neared the end of our trip, Slumdog Millionaire, an independent film about children growing up in the slums of Mumbai, was quickly gaining momentum as a front-runner for best picture of the year.