Whether you meet a housewife in the market or a little boy who should be in school but is selling balloons, they both will treat you with respect and warm hospitality and of course always a big smile. Even in the villages, the shy ladies in their resplendent bright clothes will generously offer you a place at dinner in her humble home, as if you were family. It is the people of India that make the country so special. Despite the hardships and chaos, they still live every day with an optimism that is enviable. This is why that random conversation you had with a wizened old men and that ended with a cup of chai, will be one of the fondest memories of your trip to India, and you realize that not only are you smiling but perhaps imitating unconsciously the Indian head bobble.