The Elephant Paradigm: India Wrestles with Change

by Gurcharan Das

About the Book: The Elephant Paradigm: India Wrestles with Change The Elephant Paradigm: India Wrestles with Change is, quitesimply, about an ancient civilization?s reawakening to thespirit?and potential?of its youth. Following up on the success ofIndia Unbound, which took up the process of India?s transformationin the 1990s from a closed to an open economy, The ElephantParadigm ranges over a vast area?covering subjects as varied aspanchayati raj, national competitiveness, and the sacred andphilosophical concerns of the average Indian consequent to India?sentry into what the author calls the ?age of liberation?. WhileIndia may never roar ahead like the Asian tigers, Das argues, itwill advance like a wise elephant, moving steadily and surely,pausing occasionally to reflect on its past and to enjoy thejourney. Gurcharan Das employs the essay form to sew together variedfacets of this remarkable transition. Divided into three sections,the book first establishes a context for the changes that haveoccurred, and then assesses how we have changed?or not changed?inour public and private lives. As he sweeps over the majorpolitical, social and economic developments, he does not forget toexamine the individual beliefs and aspirations that underpin theprocess. Crisp, insightful and witty, these essays capture both thedisappointments and the joys that resulted from the ?90s revolutionand serve as an essential guide to the new India. About the Author: Gurcharan Das Gurcharan Das is a well known author, commentator and publicintellectual. He is the author of the much acclaimed The Difficultyof Being Good, and the international bestseller India Unbound,which has been translated into many languages and filmed by theBBC. His other works include the novel, A Fine Family; a book ofessays, The Elephant Paradigm; and an anthology, Three Plays,consisting of Larins Sahib, Mira and 9 Jakhoo Hill. Gurcharan Das writes a regular column for a number of Indiannewspapers including the Times of

Genres: India, Nonfiction, History, Economics, Indian Literature

301 pages, Paperback

First published November 12, 2002

About the author

Gurcharan Das (Punjabi: ਗੁਰਚਰਨ ਦਾਸ, Hindi: गुरचरण दास), (born October 3, 1943), is an Indian author, commentator and public intellectual. He is the author of The Difficulty of Being Good: On the subtle art of dharma which interrogates the epic, Mahabharata. His international bestseller, India Unbound, is a narrative account of India from Independence to the global Information Age, and has been published in many languages and filmed by BBC.

He is a regular columnist for six Indian newspapers in English, Hindi, Telugu and Marathi, and he writes periodic pieces for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and Newsweek.

He graduated with honors from Harvard University in Philosophy. He later attended Harvard Business School (AMP), where he is featured in three case studies. He was CEO of Procter & Gamble India and later Managing Director, Procter & Gamble Worldwide (Strategic Planning). In 1995, he took early retirement to become a full time writer. He is currently on many boards and is a regular speaker to the top managements of the world’s largest corporations.

His other literary works include a novel, A Fine Family, a book of essays, The Elephant Paradigm, and anthology, Three English Plays.

Reviews

[Sheokhanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is a combination of various articles written by the author over the years. Possibly from mid 1990s to 2002. The author essentially is of capitalist mind and offers solutions based on that model. The author also tries to convince people that capitalism must be sold to people like "Fabian socialism" of Nehru was sold to masses in 1950s. Even though acknowledging the short comings of the capitalist ideology, the author debates that it is the best system forward.

Being the ex-CEO of Procter and Gamble(India) , the author does provides an insight into various issues from the side of a capitalist. I however believe that the author missed out a concept called "social entrepreneurship" or "responsible capitalism", which one believes should have been talked more in his book. I must say that I was horrified by couple of his suggestions and at the same time sympathetic to some.

Author is educated in Harvard University therefore he does bring along a certain mindset. I however believe that his understanding of certain issues were elitist per say ( both social and economical )even though the author tries to pinpoint to the reader that he is NOT elitist, on this part I would beg to differ with him.

Author also focuses alot on philosophers and their view points, I presume that is an educational hazard that the author has to live with (since the author did Philosophy honors from Harvard university) and so he uses the names of many western philosophers in putting his view point across.

The author also makes a point that he is a liberal in every sense ( I presume it is fashion these days to say so), I for one evoke authors concern towards the reform of the rules and allowing entrepreneurship to be encouraged. It is an average book if any body wishes to read it. I was drawn to it after reading India Unbound by the author. I however doubt that I would be reading any other of his books soon. None the less , some books recommended by him will certainly be on my list for the book TO-READ.

[Manvendra Shekhawat · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Elephant Paradigm by Gurcharan Das

It is difficult for a contemporary affairs book to survive 20 years and that too in country as fast and progressing as India. At first, I didn’t wanna read this book. Just picked it out of curiosity and I was hooked. It has more to do with the manner in which Gurcharan Das writes. India Unbound: The Social and Economic Revolution from Independence to the Global Information Age also was similar to this one and many of the arguments were repeated here as well but the motivation to put it down wasn’t strong enough, if not the opposite. He writes in a simplistic and yet provocative manner which frustrates you at first and then the gullible nature of his arguments makes you realize the easiness of the issue at hand. What I most liked about his books is that he has focused primarily on the solutions at hand and uncovering the simple and not so simple problems plaguing our country. It is difficult for many authors to be solution oriented; it is far too easy to complain about things.

But the primary question remained, “what will I gain by reading a book that is 20 years old, which is probably predicting how India will look like in the coming 20 years”? To be fair I don’t know. It did provide a yardstick to measure India’s achievements during this period, under achievements too. More importantly I wanted to be reminded of the simple truths regarding Indian affairs. I tend to forget them after some time. So, it was more of a revision time.

India inherited a country desperate in need of a revolution in the sense of upliftment of poor, lacking gender equality, divided on caste, religion, and regional lines and a huge chunk of illiterate population. The stage was set by our founding fathers and we took the steps we took and focused on certain issues on the basis of priority. Understandably these issues don’t vanish overnight. But since the late 60s when the mantle was placed in the hands of Indira Gandhi, something or many things had gone terribly wrong in India. In the political sense our decay had surfaced and Indira becoming the Prime minister had opened a pandora’s box which has plagued our politics till date and will continue to haunt us till some sort of revolution occurs in the Indian National Congress. India had the worst of Socialism and capitalism at the same time during the growth years. Economically we weren’t winning medals as well. Our system had shown that it needed reforms badly and sadly they came too late in the 90s.

Das has been quite enthusiastic about the 1991 reforms throughout his books and even dubbed the event as a revolution in our history. At first, I didn’t quite understand what this obsession was all about but he had good reason to label it as a revolution in our polity. Till today, we aren’t told the significance of the LPG reforms (well, I wasn’t) and take the present situation as a given. Our politicians too didn’t educate us as to the place we were headed to, given their lack of vision.

We reformed, grew, attracted capital, but still we were lacking somewhere, we were discontent. Although we were moving towards a democratic form of capitalism it was difficult to shake off the hold of the old guard. It is curious to learn that India was unable to establish its identity as a welfare or laissez faire state, it wanted to do both while leaning towards the welfare side. This contradiction of India surfaced on multiple levels. Also, the manner in which India played the welfare role left the author irritated.

A couple of days ago I read the news that Tesla had asked our govt to cut the huge import duties it charged; our minister responded by telling them to manufacture in India. Such occurrences take place often in our nation. It is difficult to ascertain whether we need tesla or tesla need us but it is a given that many people in India would want to buy those cars. It could’ve been a win-win for the parties but sadly it is what it is.

China always had an edge over India in so many ways {Although it has been getting a lot of bad PR which can be a plus for us}. Many credited their strong and autocratic state which could undermine individual rights at its whim and fancy to favor the high rate of growth. India can never go that way; we love our fundamental rights way too much and if it comes to respecting those rights or a high rate of growth, we are bound to choose the former time and again. This is the beauty of the Indian state. But it doesn’t have to necessarily go that way. The two can go side by side and this narrative of the two being on opposite ends of the spectrum is a bit disturbing.

It is interesting to note that we have come so far from what we used to be. India’s achievements have gone under the radar because of the way our media and society (in fact, most of the societies) function, by replacing our old problems with the new ones. Which can be a good thing most of the times but we lack the bigger picture.

Most of the people I meet are pessimistic about India [I was/am too], especially about the way its politics is going forward. A lot of this pessimism finds its way towards the media platforms and multiplies the discontent we feel in being Indian and being born at this time of growing intolerance. The exponential rise of BJP has a lot to tell about the way we are thinking as a nation. There’s a lot wrong with the BJP and a lot wrong with the INC but making these discussions the top priority is something that depends on an individual’s choice or the nation’s choice. We find easy escape in political discussions and hardly want to look inwards. As long as politics is the subject covering the front pages of our newspaper our pace of progress will be quite slow.

Slowly the changes have started to come in the sense that our youth {at least a part of it} is no longer single-mindedly looking to secure a govt job. The move towards the pvt sphere can usher in a new revolution of undervaluing the public jobs and thus taking the reservation’s ill effects out of our midst.

Pessimism looks like the way but in the end, it is optimism which runs our world. Fortunately, we have good reasons to be optimistic and reach our desired objectives. We still need a lot to fix and we will fix those issues. Today’s India is much better placed to play a significant role in the world but firstly it has to play an important role domestically.

I have just realized that I’ve reduced the commentary to only a particular aspect of the book, where as the book has a lot to offer to every Indian from promoting reading and writing to the talks relating to our religion/faith and culture, it is an extraordinary experience. My first impression of Gurcharan Das wasn’t quite favorable in fact, I disliked his elitist background and his corporate career and him lecturing us on the understanding of rural issues [Like many Indians I too hated to be lectured on something closer to me, just shows the level of superiority we feel]. But he has a lot to offer on the understanding of our country and his clear writing makes it a joyride.

Thanks for sticking by for so long.
Goodbye! :)

[Hemanth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just brought this book randomly without much expectation.

But it was worth more then I can imagine. I do not agree will all the views but I agree mostly related to Indian economy and politics.
A must read book for People who missed 2000's decade newspaper like me. A Solution oriented essay with hidden gems philosophy references still highly relevant today for young Indians.

Favorite Quote
Quote: “India is not a tiger, and change will always be slower than in East Asia. India is an elephant which has stirred from its slumber and has finally begun to move ahead with a degree of determination. However, unlike a sprinting tiger that runs out of steam, the elephant has stamina.”

[Bahul Jain · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thought-provoking and informative book that contains a compilation of essays about the economic, political and social standing of India in the nineties. Although it's been a while since those days have passed, the book nevertheless is quite an interesting read. There's a lot to learn, plenty of room to grow for India in every aspect and the book pinpoints all the reasons India has always remained a third-world country and how it can cure all the parasitic infections that have festered the nation since it's independence. Definitely worth the read, if you have missed out reading the newspapers in your childhood, otherwise also. In fact, this book should be made a part of our history textbooks.

[N R · Rating 2 out of 5]

Das believes unwaveringly in the free market economy. Downplays inequality, Blames socialism, statism for a lot of ills.
Says that India achieved independence peaceful (yes, there was unspeakable violence during the Partition)… something wrong there.
However : that « too much passion about one’s ideals is not a good thing », he does take a middle / medium approach to some ideas.

[Lalitha Sarma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful at multiple levels

[Abhinav Gupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!!!
Focuses effectively on the main issues like autonomy of local government and importance of free trade and competition.

[Erica Mukherjee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gurcharan Das’s The Elephant Paradigm is a collection of essays about the India of the 1990’s. As with all collections, some essays are stronger than others. In this mixed bag of a book, Das talks about India’s economic opening, her protectionist past, the benefits of meditation, needed education reforms and everything in between. This slim volume, less than 300 pages, manages to touch on a wide array of Indian public and private life, but each brush is so fleeting that it is difficult to get a firm grasp on any one topic. The book also lacked an overarching thesis which led one to question the reasoning behind the topic selection. The book wasn’t about politics, economics, management or culture. It was a little bit of all these things. In this case, quantity won out over quality.

If I were to create a wish list for this book I would first wish for more time spent discussing the role of women in rebuilding India. Das barely gives women a five page essay. I would also wish for more discussion on the viability of self-help groups and micro finance in helping India’s economic transformation. I wish Das’s complaints about India’s sluggish bureaucracy had been lessened; blaming the bureaucracy for all problems seems to be a favourite middle-class past time. I was also very disappointed to find the last essay of the book dismissing the environmental movement as a bunch of irrational animists who wish to create a new licence-raj. Such close-minded thinking ended the book on a sour note.

The Elephant Paradigmis yet another non-fiction book offering advice on life in New India. However, it’s disjointed style and prejudiced editorializing puts it much lower on the to-read list than the works of Tully or Muruthy.

[Rajendra · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a disappointing book from the author that I greatly admire.

It may have something to do with the fact that the essays that were topical in 2002 appear to be stale and overtaken by subsequent events. Also, there are many repetitions,natural in a set of essays written over a time period of many years, but irritating when read as a collection. The editors could have a done a better job.

The book itself is about the progress made by India in the last decade of twentieth century and its unfinished agenda. The author argues that the solution to all our problems is building better institutions. He categorically says that there is nothing wrong with us Indians as individuals. However he fails to explain as to why we are not able to build good institutions if there is nothing wrong with our "national character" (as he puts it). It is pity that no Indian leader or intellectual has courage to remind us that we as individuals are responsible for our commissions and omissions as a society. Probably no one wants to bell the cat!

[Akshay · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Elephant Paradigm" by Gurcharan Das is quite simply a collection of essays. It ranges over a vast area covering subjects as varied as panchayati raj, national competitiveness, the sacred and philosophical concerns of the average Indian consequent to India's entry into the age of liberalisation and globalisation. The essays largely analyse India's transformation in the 1990s from a closed to an open economy. While the author believes that India may never roar ahead like an Asian tiger but it'll surely advance like a wise elephant: moving steadily and surely, pausing occasionally to enjoy its journey and reflect over its past. Crisp, insightful and witty, the essays capture both the disappointments as well as the joys that resulted from the 1990s' revolution and serve as an essential guide to a post-liberalised India.

[Jinesh Parakh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr Das intelligently compared India as an Elephant which has just come out of slumberness and like an Elephant ,its progress and stability will last long ,unless like other East Asian economies who are limping like a Tiger but soon going to exhaust thier steam.With various examples from corporates,worlds, and his personal experience Mr Das put up a strong argument on how India will move for its betterment with global economy and competetive market at one hand and red-tape & bureacracy on the other.

Nice read,but if you have already gone through his first book "India Unbound",you may find it bit slow and a drag of his first book

[Vish Patil · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is amazingly written, although most parts have been read earlier in either a column or article written by him. Of the four books India Unbound, India Grows At Night, The Difficulty of Being Good and this one, I rate this the least. For anyone who is reading Gurcharan Das for the first time, this is as refreshing as the other three books.

[Masen Production]

“Another Gurcharan Das which gives a alternative perspective to Modern India and changes that it is undergoing in the past 2 decades. A fine perspective and at times you tend to fully agree with his rationale....”

[Ankit Sahu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good account of how changes are perceived in India. Many examples have already become irrelevant with the recent policy changes, but nonetheless, they provide a thorough insight of the popular mindset which prevailed a decade ago.

[Kausik R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average

[Saurabh Srivastava · Rating 4 out of 5]

Economic,Social,political,environmental..what more..Complete India coalesced..

[Venkatesh Chittarvu]

An Interesting take on Laissez Faire Capitalism in India.

[Dayanand Prabhu · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not even close to India Unbound by the same author. Ends up sounding like a capitalistic rant, indicating how anything and everything should be made into private sector. worth avoiding.

[Chakravarthi]

An excellent path for knowing about developing nation..........