We are no stranger to the fact that we are moving towards a more urban conglomeration - as progressive as our metropolitan cities may be, we cannot deny that the heart and soul of India lives in her villages. While bigger cities are always in a rush to develop and grow, the rush to nowhere rarely touches these rural areas and it’s this that makes them utterly unique. While maintaining their old charm, some of them have progressed, developed and adopted a broader way of living a fulfilling life that will easily put most metro cities to shame. Chamravattom, Kerala Chamravattom in Kerala is India's first computer literate village. Chamravattom in Kerala is India's first 100 percent computer-literate village. 850 families completed basic computer literacy training and everyone in the village can now handle a personal computer, create and edit pictures, compose text using a specially-designed Malayalam language tool, surf the Internet, send email and make Internet telephony voice calls. You have the tech-savvy village to thank that made us proud and broke all stereotypes about Indian villages.

Mawlynnong, Meghalaya

Mawlynnong in Meghalaya is Asia's cleanest village.

This small village in Meghalaya, that acquired the status of the 'Cleanest Village in Asia' in 2003, is located at a distance of about 90 kilometers from Shillong. The village offers a sky-walk over a bridge constructed with natural materials, to help you soak in its beauty and charm. You won't find a single paper, cigarette butt or any kind of dirt in the village, at any given time of the day, ever.

Punsari, Gujarat

The village with WiFi, CCTVs, AC schools, biometric machines, water purifying plants.

Punsari, located in Gujarat, is a village that can easily put any metro city or even the smart-cities-in-the-making to shame. Barely 100 km from Ahmedabad, it is a textbook case of development. CCTVs, water purifying plants, air-conditioned schools, Wi-Fi, biometric machines - the village does it just right - and all of it was done in a matter of eight years, at a cost of a mere Rs. 16 crore. Say whaaaat!