The best way I've heard India described...is that it is "an assault on all the senses" - ubiquitous poverty, odors of the garbage heaps, noise of traffic, the crowded streets, random cows, the heat, etc. One the other hand, the food is amazing and the landscape beautiful. It's taken sometime but India is beginning to grow on me. It's a country of contradictions - it's rich and poor, spiritual and material, cruel and kind, angry but peaceful, ugly and beautiful, and smart but stupid.
I just finished my second book on India -"Holy Cow" by Sarah MacDonald, an Aussie woman who comically narrates her sojourn in India. It's a quick read and captures India's nuances from a western perspective, while at the same time summarizes the various religions practiced in India. "Freedom at Midnight" by Lapierre and Collins was the first book I read. This book is more historical in nature and outlines India's independence struggle.
