Almost half of the world's demand for gold comes from India, and last year $5.7 billion worth of Australian gold was sent to India, more than the worth of coal sent to China. Jewellery has long been a powerful symbol of the West's fascination for India, and today, India continues as the world's largest jewellery market.

Two of India’s finest singers showcase the vital yet ancient classical music traditions of their vast and diverse country. Sudha Ragunathan performs the dazzlingly virtuosic devotional songs of southern India. Unlike the stately classical music of the north (Hindustani), Carnatic music alternates moments of calm with thrilling displays of vocal dexterity, when singer, violinist and drummer fire off rapid busts of intricate melody and rhythm in perfect synchronisation.

According to Robyn Jeffrey, the mobile phone changed humanity's way of life more than any invention since shoes, and the power of the mobile phone is "not in the mobility, it is the autonomy," he says. In 2001, India had 4 million cell phone subscribers, or 35 mobiles for every thousand people. Ten years later, that number had exploded to more than 750 million and 658 mobiles per thousand people. Over just a decade, the mobile phone was transformed from a rare and unwieldy instrument to a palm-sized, affordable staple, taken for granted by poor fishermen in Kerala and affluent entrepreneurs in Mumbai alike.

The Australia India Institute is hosting Chai and Conversation with Rory Medcalf, Director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute for International Policy and Senior Research Fellow in Indian Strategic Affairs at the University of New South Wales.