The chai costs seven rupees. That's less than a dime. You're sitting on a plastic stool at a railway platform somewhere in Rajasthan, watching the sun turn the dust gold, and a man with a steel kettle is pouring you something so aggressively sweet and cardamom-laced that it rewires your morning. This is India at its most essential — not the palace hotels or the guided tours, but the unscripted moments that cost almost nothing and stay with you for decades. India remains one of the last...
