The second picture is from 'Nilakkottai'. I often used to go there. Although now I live in Kerala, my native place is a small village located near Batlagundu. I had spent some of my childhood years there and had studied in a government primary school. It was early 2000's. I didn't have chappals nor had a school bag. Noon time meal from school was a boon for us!
Even though India is unique in many ways as you have pointed out here, it is still underdeveloped. Since you have lived in Tamilnadu for long, you might be aware of various problems we face including the open defecation! Kerala is clean in that sense as the attitude of malayalees have been westernised over the years because most of them live in outside of India.
It is only after I got into steemit that I came to know about what westerners think about Indians. I even saw a comment thread wherein the word 'Indian' was used in place of some bad word! Those people don't understand that our skin tone and shape have a lot to do with the geographical specifications of this region! Anyway, I do believe that no ethnicity or race is superior or inferior to another. We are humans afterall!
Thanks for producing such a good content about India.