The British left a good highway and railroad system, a populace trained in the civil service, and an educated upper and middle class. The populace learned the civil service well - the bureaucracy overwhelms life. Everywhere heaps of people in khaki stamp, paperclip, staple, and file mountains of paper. Nothing much works, or only barely. Nothing much gets done.
Corruption is endemic in the system.
Twenty rupees will get you to the head of the line, or anywhere or anything else for that matter. The only time anything works is when the palm is crossed with a pile of moldy notes - and then it's done with a glacial pace, if at all. It is all of us - as we wish we weren't, but as we truly are. We had been told by an Indian friend before our journey that western travelers there fall into two categories - those who love India and those who detest it. I love India.