In the six decades since India’s ‘tryst with destiny’, we have taken many wrong turns. Public service has become private profit, corruption is normal and we struggle to provide basic services such as education and healthcare to our citizens—that is, governance has collapsed. However, there is cause for cheer. India has a young upwardly mobile population, restless for change. We are at a turning point, but will we lose our way again?

This is the question TSR Subramanian answers in this book on the relationship between the rulers and the ruled. Subramanian knows the Indian government inside-out: he has the outsider’s rage at what has gone wrong with governance; he also has the insider’s insight into the solutions that are possible. The essays in this book are anchored in this well-rounded perspective.

With his brand of humour, Subramanian mixes personal experience with public commentary, frustration at all the wrong turns with hope for a better future.