This is not a book review, but my impression of the book after completing 1/4th of the 200 pages. Games Indians Play is a book by V. Raghunath.
This book is supposed to explain the 'Why we are the way we are". It starts of with saying that we as Indians have typical characteristics which is not found anywhere else in the world, be it developed or developing or under-developed countries. The traits like: Jumping the Red light, Being late and untrustworthy, keeping the surroundings unclean, bribing and corruption, jumping the queue and being insensitive about needs to elderly etc. It has a foreword by none other than Mr. Narayan Murthy.
I completely agree with him that all the traits are completely valid and true. We see them day in and day out. But where I disagree is that these traits are special to Indian genes and are not found anywhere else. Having been to many countries and interacted with people of many different nationalities, I find this completely ridiculous. Here are my personal experiences:
1. The bus I was waiting for in Nice, France was 20 minutes late. The driver was unapologetic and kept chattering with a person sitting next to him all the while from Airport to my bus stop, many times taking his eyes from the road. All of these are supposed to be typical Indian characteristics.
2. People honk of impatience at traffic lights in Italy. I have seen them taking a shortcuts which are not exactly legal. So impatience on the road is not "India only trait".
3. Uncleanliness is quite rampant. Dog owners dont lift Dog-Shit from roads in Germany, they litter the downtown in most US cities, China is as dirty as India.
4. Taking advantage of a unsuspecting tourists is quite common in China, Italy, Greece etc. A friend of mine lost his Wallet in China and another friend lost his laptop in Rome, both incidents happened within Airport premises. My colleague was ripped off 3 times the normal fare in Beijing, China.
5. And if bending the law is typical Indian attitude, I cannot account for piracy of movies and music. And how can we take into account the Enron's and the Worldcom's? And china is not much better than India when it comes to bribery.
Overall this may be a good book from analysis perspective, but has been twisted for the sake of publicity. People tend to buy more if it is related to India rather than a generic behavioral science book. But this is unjustifiable when book shows India in negative light without any reason just for the sake of publicity.
I hope nobody buys this book and make success out of anti-Indianess.
