Incredible India! The faded poster on the wall at the immigration checkpoint in Jaigaon proclaimed. “Yeah, and then some,” I thought to myself while almost suffering whiplash after hitting a particularly large pothole on the road to Siliguri. India might be incredible, but its roads certainly are not.

In fact, the sorry state of Indian infrastructure never ceases to amaze me. True, the big cities, like Kolkata and Chennai, have their brand-spanking new, shining overpasses and wide highways, which the local authorities proudly proclaim as a cure for the chronic traffic congestion. (Really? Removing every vehicle made before 1975 from the streets would be more effective.) In the Indian countryside, however, the roads are left to slowly rot and collapse, while the local populace watches the spectacle, patiently sitting in ditches.