Could you elaborate?

The scarcity of their everyday lives means they have to hack together innovative uses of what we would consider junk, or do without many of our strictures.

For instance, I bet you've probably seen the youtube video of rush hour traffic merging and crossing on an Indian street without stoplights, signs, or road markings. Maybe even witnessed it first hand if you happen to be Indian. I saw a lot of this kind of driving.

You'll also see interesting combinations of car, bicycle, and motorcycle parts. Someone created a bicycle version of the ubiquitous rickshaw, v. useful for the crowded inner city such as around mosques and temples.

The street food vendors often have constructed their stoves out of random assemblages of metal.

That's about what I can remember right now. Sorry I don't have more instances. I mainly took away the overall impression that the Indian populace, at least in New Delhi, are pretty innovative. This impression of the general Indian psyche is reinforced by people like Ramanujan.

Thanks for elaborating. Yes, I'm Indian. I was just wondering b'cos what you said is different from what I've heard more often (which is some variation of "can't think for themselves/need lots of guidance/need to be told what to do" which I don't buy. But then, I'm biased :) )

I think that's more a function of their academic training than their natural aptitude.

I had a year of similar schooling when I was growing up, and it was pretty stifling.