INDIA - The Land of Contradictions

www.guardian.co.uk - Excerpts from David Hopps's article on Matthew Hayden's comments about India being a "Third world country":

• Matthew Hayden's opinions of India are half-cooked redneck tosh, this nation remains, as ever, the 'Land of contradictions'
• For a supposed third-world country, India can assemble a veritable army of TV stations, radio frequencies, newspapers and websites to defend its reputation as a thrusting economic power. True, if half of those working in the media were building new homes then India would probably be a better place, but then you could also say the same about England.
• India, of course, is not ''a third-world country''. India, as we have all been taught, is a ''land of contradictions.'' It is a land that can pay Hayden US$375,000 to play for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League then irritate him when it takes half-an-hour to move a sightscreen. ''Land of contradictions'' is such a cliché that a Google search brings up 268,000 results, and here is the latest addition.