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My Friend Sancho
My first novel, My Friend Sancho, is now on the stands across India. It is a contemporary love story set in Mumbai, and was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2008. To learn more about the book, click here.
To buy it online from the US, click here.
I am currently on a book tour to promote the book. Please check out our schedule of city launches. India Uncut readers are invited to all of them, no pass required, so do drop in and say hello.
If you're interested, do join the Facebook group for My Friend Sancho
Click here for more about my publisher, Hachette India.
And ah, my posts on India Uncut about My Friend Sancho can be found here.
Recent entries
This sentence says so much about the level of parliamentary debate in India today: Finally, marshals were called in…
The quote of the day comes from a post by Roger Ebert: Resentment is allowing someone to live rent-free…
Alex Tabarrok writes: Suppose that you are a cow philosopher contemplating the welfare of cows. In the world today…
[EWWW POST ALERT] Reader Deepthi B sends me a link to a book named “Natural Harvest - A Collection…
I’m moderating a couple of interesting book discussions in the next few days, and India Uncut readers are invited…
13 October, 2007
Loyal to Their Masters?
The WTF quote of the day comes from Chandra Bhan Prasad, trying to justify reservations in the private sector by arguing that it will help companies:
It is in the culture of dalits that they are least likely to change their employment because they are so loyal to their masters.
If I was a dalit, I’d be immensely offended by this statement. Leave that aside—Even if Prasad’s strange generalization is somehow accurate, his argument is all wrong. If a quota for dalits would help companies, then they would have such a quota without being forced to. In a competitive market, any company can only survive by maximising efficiencies. In this game of survival, companies don’t need to be told what is good for them—they find out by doing it and surviving, or not doing it and getting screwed.
But then, this meme of “we know what’s good for you and we’ll force you to do it” is a common justification for much government action of the last 60 years. It’s okay when parents say that to a child, but we are all adults here, and can decide for ourselves what’s good for us. Sadly, the state doesn’t agree.
By the by, the Economist piece that Prasad’s quote is from is worth a read. Check it out.
(Link via email from Ravikiran.)
Posted by Amit Varma in
