WHAT IS YOUR idea of India? The Western idea, we all know, involves elephants, snake-charmers, potholed roads, and, oh yes, call centres. The Indian idea is a far more complex intertwining of politics, economics, policy, business, society, faith, culture, food, and language. On social media, there’s much ado on an hourly basis about the idea of the “real” India. For some, it’s urban, with all the problems that befall any city. Others seem to believe in the Gandhian notion of the idyllic village, something Gandhi himself said “exists only in my imagination”. As generations have discovered before, there are indeed, several Indias. As city-dwellers, our ideas are often circumscribed by geography. We know parts of our cities very well, and can’t recognize others. And while some of us have roots that are not urban, we rarely know what makes the rest of India tick. The last month of the year is traditionally a time of philosophizing and introspection. It seems like the perfect time to look outside our urban cocoons, at places, people, and ideas that are unfamiliar, yet Indian. And so we bring you an eclectic mix of stories from villages and cities that reflect at least some parts of this seemingly chaotic country. Dainik Bhaskar, the group behind the largest-selling Hindi newspaper of the same name, rubs shoulders with Speaking Tiger, a publishing house that consciously stays away from “big” names like Chetan Bhagat and Amish Tripathi. Both Dainik Bhaskar and Speaking Tiger have taken a contrarian position by investing more heavily in print than digital, in an age when everything is moving online. Meanwhile, farmers seem to be taking to digital technology in a big way. We spoke to apple farmers in Himachal Pradesh, and to scientists from ISRO who are now using their smarts to reimagine farming.