Book Review: Games Indians Play

Games Indians Play - Why We Are The Way We Are ?
--- V Raghunathan

Though most of the content is not new for many, Games Indians Play presents good analysis of "why we are the way we are", when it comes to our civic sense and our competitive attitude at all wrong places, and how we live up to disparaging remarks like "India is a functioning anarchy" etc.,

Author was a professor at IIMA for two decades and worked as a top executive in successful corporations, and a well published researcher in behavioral economics and finance. He uses his academic tools and research to explain the behavior that we see in our day-to-day lives in India, and how we are different from(inferior to ?) many better functioning western civic societies, though our average IQ levels are quite high by many standards. If one is in a perpetual denial about such facts, this book is highly recommended, as the author emphasizes very early in the book that recognizing and appreciating the problem is the first step towards solution.

He uses classic Prisoner's Dilemma to introduce the difference between cooperative and defective behavior and how it applies to a society. How our short-sighted intelligence and instant gratification lead to our doom, where as, though apparently less intelligent, cooperative behavior leads to long term success and how instant gratification is seen in every walk of life in India. There is a convincing discussion on how things like 'tolerance', that we typically are proud of in India, are applied at wrong places and how that keeps us from punishing the offenders, which leads to titles like "A functioning anarchy".

The conclusion was on an interesting philosophical note, by creating a parallel between what Krishna taught Arjuna in Gita with the Game Theory. How everybody doing what they are supposed to do(Dharma), for a successful society is nothing but what Game Theory calls Cooperative Behavior, which will not have any instant gratification, but, will lead to success in the long run.