Re: India got thrashed - so why am I happy ?
The best way to describe sub-continental countries is to see them as regions of haves and have nots (actually Botham's mother-in-law said that about Pakistan when she visited in 2001). She felt that some of the top hotels in Pakistan were even more luxurious and comfortable than the ones in England. These were her own words in a British newspaper.
In India and Pakistan if you have a nice bungalow, car, naukar chakar etc. then in a sense you lead even better lives than many of your fellow countrymen and women living in the West. Here in the West you have to do everything yourself unless you are a landed rich like Jemima etc. (then you can afford to have a butler, maid, baby-sitter and chauffeur etc.)
But if you are really poor and you don't have even the most basic amenities of life in the sub-continent then you have really had it. Here in UK everyone has access to essentially the same education (education is free in government schools till GCSEs formerly A-Levels), council housing (although I have my reservations about generally over-crowded council flats) and NHS (National Health Service) etc.