Born in 1952

India held its first democratic general election, a mammoth exercise involving 173 million voters. Congress won convincingly, and Nehru continued steering the country. In cities, new factories were opening and graduates were finding jobs in government offices.

In villages, the bullock cart remained king. Schoolchildren recited new patriotic songs, and All India Radio broadcast classical music into homes that had never owned a gramophone. Progress was slow but real.