Games Indians Play

In a rare attempt to understand the Indianness of Indians-among the most intelligent people in the world, but also, to a dispassionate eye, perhaps the most baffling-V. Raghunathan uses the props of game theory and behavioral economics to provide an insight into the difficult conundrum of why we are the way we are. He puts under the scanner our attitudes towards rationality and irrationality, selflessness and selfishness, competition and cooperation, and collaboration and deception. Drawing examples from the way we behave in day-to-day situations, Games Indians Play tries to show how in the long run each one of us-whether businessmen, politicians, bureaucrats, or just plain us-stand to profit more if we were to assume a little self-regulation, give fairness a chance and strive to cooperate and collaborate a little more even if self-interest were to be our main driving force.

V. Raghunathan taught at IIM, Ahmedabad for about two decades, where he also chaired the MBA programme. In 2001 he moved to ING Vysya Bank as President until 2004. For the next fourteen years he headed the GMR Varalakshmi Foundation. He is currently the director of the Hyderabad campus of Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Canada. He has been a Visiting Professor at Bocconi University, Milan, Italy for twenty five years and is at present an Adjunct Professor at Schulich School of Business, Toronto. He is a busy author with about 15 books and a columnist of long standing with national dailies with over 600 articles. He currently blogs for Times of India. Raghu is a serious hobbyist with one of the largest collection of old and antique padlocks in India. He has been a cartoonist briefly with a national daily and played chess at the all-India level. He lives in Bangalore with his wife Meena. His website is www.vraghuanthan.com.