What impresses visitors from the Two-Thirds World are the simple things Americans take for granted: fresh water available 24 hours a day, unlimited electrical power, telephones that work and a most remarkable network of paved roads. . . . At the time, we still had no television in India, but my American hosts seemed to have TV sets in every room–and they operated day and night. This ever-present blast of media disturbed me. For some reason, Americans seemed to have a need to surround themselves with noise all the time. Even in their cars, I noticed the radios were on even when no one was listening. Why do they always have to be either entertained or entertaining? I wondered. It was as if they were trying to escape from guilt they had not yet defined or even identified.

– K.P. Yohannan