JOHN Elliott’s overarching thesis in Implosion: India’s Tryst with Reality is undoubtedly an ambitious one: his book aims to heavily underscore why India’s social infrastructure and generally laissez-faire attitude are directly responsible for its lack of economic progress and growth in the 21st century. This is not to say that India has stagnated in an economic sense; according to Elliott, it simply hasn’t progressed as much as it could have.

Naturally, the author’s main stance counts as a polemical one, and the reader would do well to approach the book with this fact in mind. A former Financial Times journalist, Elliott spent the better part of three decades examining India, and from a layperson’s perspective, the book makes for an engrossing, albeit rather dense, read. It covers a wide variety of topics including history, foreign policy, governance, social change, and corruption.

The book is divided into seven informative sections, of which the first deals with the dual concepts of jugaad and chalta hai. It is here that Elliott lays the groundwork for his thesis. Jugaad is the principle by means of which Elliott believes the majority of Indian businesses operate; it specifically involves making do with whatever resources one has, regardless of whether they ultimately prove adequate or not. Hence quality is often sacrificed at the altar of quantity.

Chalta hai literally translates to “it serves [the purpose] / it functions.” Elliott goes into considerable length when it comes to explaining these fundamentals of Indian philosophy, consistently highlighting, by means of sundry examples, that these concepts are so deeply ingrained in the general Indian psyche that progress of the sort viewed in the West is well nigh impossible for this major country. His book doesn’t involve itself with providing any solutions (even hypothetical ones), but perhaps that would have detracted from the polemics that fuel it.

Whether one allows oneself to be convinced by the layers upon layers of examples provided by the author depends on how reliable one considers his sources to be. His topics range from many deals cut by major financiers such as the Ambanis and Tatas, the clout of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, the history of corruption in Hyderabad, the social protests revolving around the tragic rape and murder of Jyoti Pandey, to name but a few of the salient ones. But in order for exhaustive agendas to carry substantial critical weight, a writer’s sources need to be nothing short of impeccable. Unfortunately, this is not the case with Implosion and the book falls into the dangerous cracks between spy novels such as Dragonfire (alluded to briefly by the author himself) and well-researched texts produced by university presses.

Many of the sources Elliott uses are online articles, and several are personal communications between him and his interviewees. There is a vast and worrisome disparity within his research; for instance, he frivolously relies on Vogue magazine to emphasise that Chelsea Clinton may one day run for politics, while citing Patrick French’s far more sensible publication, India: A Portrait, in order to illustrate some other matters. The background material also suffers from poor organisation: for example, the Bofors gun scandal and its undeniable impact on the Gandhi family is mentioned in a cursory manner half a dozen times and finally explained after the reader has waded through over 300 pages of the text. Such matters could have been deftly handled by a competent editor, and it’s a shame that they detract from the quality of what is otherwise fairly sound writing.

Elliott’s weakest point is the sixth section of the book titled ‘India Abroad’. His knowledge of international relations is so limited that he would have been better off avoiding structuring such a section altogether. It provides one with little more than opinionated and Westernised overviews on India’s relations with its neighbours, as well as its ambiguous relations with China and the United States.

Perhaps Elliott’s best material is found in the chapter, ‘Scam Andhra’. He displays an impressive grasp of the wealth and rampant corruption in Hyderabad, Deccan, as well as the role played by the fascinating Reddy family in shaping the state’s politics. His semi-respectful assessments of figures such as Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi (among others) are valid enough but not particularly insightful, since it is apparent that Elliott was kept at arm’s length by those who did not want him to learn more than was acceptable. His sympathy for the poor and deprived Indian farmer or wronged minor landowner appears truly genuine, however, and he is careful to note that the widening gulf between the rich and the poor can hardly be ameliorated as long as state and local governments remain inherently corrupt and self-serving.

Elliott’s tome would have benefited considerably from a brief section on the country’s ancient history, and one cannot but raise an eyebrow at the fact that the towering and significant Bollywood is almost never mentioned over the course of the entire work. Indeed, although the Jaipur Literature Festival is mentioned rather gratuitously a couple of times, the book is almost utterly lacking insofar as the cultural dimension of India is concerned. However, the author cannot be faulted for providing the reader with a fairly comprehensive picture of modern Indian business dynamics, for which he has his specific training to thank. Regardless of its flaws, the uneven nature of the book should not prevent readers from using it as a work of reference that helps to unveil some aspects of a remarkably complex, and often inscrutable, country.

The reviewer is Assistant Professor of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts at the Institute of Business Administration.

Implosion: India’s Tryst with Reality

(SOCIOLOGY)

By John Elliott

Harper Collins, India

ISBN 9789350297353

477pp.