TR – to be clear, I have not gone on an “organised trip” but can understand your zoo comment, I used to do a lot of work with banks and housing companies in India in the 1990s and more recently. My visits were generally part of visiting housing projects in a work capacity.
The reason I mde my comments to Woppit are twofold – (1) it’s very hard/impossible to appreciate India without first hand experience. For me, it truly is an assault (good and bad) on all your senses and hard to take in on a first visit and (2) I always come back from India feeling humbled and spiritually enriched. Spending hours in a tuk-tuk or at best an air con Ambassador makes you question priorities that we have at home. Plus as I said, it is humbling to compare how smart people are in the slums in contrast to many school kids in the UK. There is a lesson there.
So I am not advocating zoo trips, rather if the opportunity arises, take it. There is a lot to experince and more importantly learn IMO. Since working in India in the 90s I have never felt any need or desire to buy a fancy car. Trivial example perhaps but important to me.