This book is definitely not for the weak-hearted Indian - it is a hard hitting book. The book tells us (Indians) what is wrong with us, it cuts into your wounds with a sharp knife and twists it in all possible directions! Trust me, if you are a "hard core" Indian, then as the author rightfully mentions, this is not a book for your reading. Although I disagree with some of the points mentioned by the author, I loved the innovation in the writing. The author has used theories and frameworks from Economics to better understand Indian behavior. The author-cum-professor, or I must say professor-cum-author simplifies game theory in this book and narrates very simple everyday examples / scenarios which help the reader understand the concept of game theory and thereby, Indian behavior. However, at times the book does go into circles explaining game theory, Indians tendency to defect at every given opportunity etc.
Some of the incidents shared by the author are absolutely hilarious. Imagine if you come across a person at the airport queue who tries to break the queue. And when you confront him, he flips the situation around asking you if you are in a hurry to go somewhere, or he says well all of us are boarding the same flight!! I would definitely fall in the trap of not knowing what to do. The one incident which I found absolutely hilarious was that of the author declaring all the goods (cash, watch etc.) when he disembarked a domestic Air India flight. I just cannot imagine how the customs officer must have reacted.
The author does a fantastic job in explaining the Prisoners Dilemma Payoff Matrix and other frameworks in behavioral economics. How many times have you encountered situations where your Indian colleague "hides" information to get some brownie points over you, in front of the manager? How many times have you come across a situation where people cut across the queue at the airport check-in counter? How many times have you visited one of the best malls or restaurants in the city, and found the toilet in an "un-entering" condition? How many times have you come across people glaring at you on the streets? How many times have you seen people litter the hallway of a mall, theatre, airport? How many times have you seen your office's common area / cafeteria being littered with food? Well I can go on endlessly, but the answer is "SEVERAL TIMES". I completely agree when the author points out some of these embarrassing incidents. However, I think these situations are relevant only to a certain section of our society - mainly the ones who have access to opportunity, who have been exposed to the worldly wise tales! How and why should you expect the people to obey the queues when they barely get their subsidized benefits by standing in long queues, and when they need to fight to get there first so that they don’t miss on that day's benefits? Similarly the people who do not have basic hygiene conditions cannot be expected to utilize the public places properly. All of this comes via experience and education. So a generalization of Indians having trust issues and not being team players is not entirely true. The particular strata that the author is addressing in this book is typically the strata which has access and exposure to opportunity. If that would have been scoped out, I would completely agree with what the author says.
It would be interesting to use the same frameworks and theories and apply them across the various cultures at a global level. It would be a giant research but worth reading for sure!
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