Why The Poors Don’t Kill Us

 Why The Poor Don’t Kill Us

 The Psychology of Indians 

by Manu Joseph, published by Aleph Book Company in 2025. Before I put my own words in the blog, lets read the author's note which states, 

“This book is about how Indians behave, narrowly by a mystery – why is there peace between the classes in one of the most unequal regions on earth?”

Manu Joseph (Here) is an Indian writer, journalist and editor of Open magazine. Previously, he has written fictions and has long and illustrious literary career. As a reporter, he has covered many stories across the India and world. This book basically sums up his observations on such assignments and othwerwise and its analysis.  

The author has divided this book into 18 chapters and in chapter 1, he deals with "Who is Poor". Basically in India, we cannot have a definition what the world over is accepted and how it is governed by pure pragmatism where he gives some anecdote relating to his experience as reporter when he was covering Bhuj earthquake.  In chapter 2, "Why the poor don’t kill us", he narrates as to how India’s chaos and its processes protect us and prevents poor from revolting. He gave a very interesting observation that it is the poor who are the worst enemies of the poor, he writes “Envy is a thing between equals." He further states that it is not that the poor revolt against the top billionaires, but it is the second rung hierarchy which co-ops the poor and the lower classes for their struggle against the upper class, and this is not only in India but it is phenomenon across the world. Even in French revolution the second category united with the poors and masses to throw away the aristocracy. Later on they assumed the role of top elites. Most people are programmed to find joy in their lives. No matter what, that is to say, that it is we who think they are miserable and it is not necessary, though it may be that they are miserable condition. In chapter 3, "How we Provoke", the author discusses the happiness index and why Indians are not satisfied in India. It is in India where poor subsidies the good lifestyle for the upper class as labour is cheaper. He compares with this with Scandinavian countries as a benchmark. Further he adds in the book that, "Surprise is our national emotion" and also we are surprised at the most logical outcome of our action." Indians are more bothered about the social order rather than public order and there is a difference between freedom which is feral and liberty, which is an intervention which is such an astute observation.

The author states that across the world, the poor and the lower middle class despise poor migrants because poor migrants, first compete for resources and jobs with poor residents and not editorial writers and development economists. A central quality of an immigrant is that he is competition, or perceived as competition. He states that if you have to analyse the compassion towards immigrants it should be done with comparison to the classes which are going to affected from such migration. The hatred for the potent migrant is very severe among the poor locals of region because they undercut their wages, bring more of their own, and for a tight community that makes them an even more formidable job market. The author writes in the chapter, “How hate United Rich and Poor” that 

“A story is a very corrupt thing. A story is not an event: a story is an interesting event. And herein lie all our problems. What is interesting in a story is not essentially what is important in life. At times to do meet, but that is rare."

Somewhere I've read that a storyteller is one of the most powerful person. Story telling is the most powerful way to communicate. He has a very interesting observation about the dichotomy of left and right. He states that 

“The ‘left’ is a low-stakes human hive of hearts that sees the world as a human hive of victims. The ‘right’ is a high-stakes preoccupation with what is locally relevant. The ‘left’ is a monoculture of a European idea; the ‘right’ is culture. And all elites are like parents - conservative at home, where the stakes are high and liberal elsewhere, an abstract place that is not as important as Home."

 He gives a scathing remark on India’s political system. He states that politicking has a sense of direction and gravitas because of its objective, which is to transform society, politicians spend very little time on the transformation part. In fact, it can be said of most politicians that if it were not for the harm they cause, their professional lives would have been entirely without any impact. 

The book has interesting anecdote related to Aaadhar project of UIDAI which was then led by Shri Nandan Nilekani, Free Basics initiative of Facebook led by Zuckerberg, Civic voes and urban decline.

The compass of the book is very wide and covers all aspects of life of an ordinary Indian. He adds that moral ideas like the importance of family, sacrifice, culture, religion, nation, and the idea of a community is more important than an individual, our ideas that primarily favour the rich, but they are enticing to the poor who emulate or imitate the rich. I personally loved on observation of the author that,

"Austerity is possible only when one is able to afford everything it rejects."

Before we wind up this review of a fastinating read, the author has given some scathing remarks in "Despite India". Some quotes are worth mentioning here:

     

Most humans hold the same set of virtues dear, but the hierarchy in which they are held at any point in time is what sets us apart.

Clarity is often inconvenient, while misunderstanding is a pleasurable        massage of prejudice.

The mechanism of greed can increase the general quality of life, but        cannot fix any quality because the whole point of greed is inequality. If        you use money as a measure, there will never be equality because that         is the nature of money. To that end inequality is a false lament.

The book is a fresh read and perhaps a unique topic which carries satire, concern, observations, undeniable facts and pin points issues.  His field experience adds a genuiness in his statements and does not sound hollow or preachy. The book not only confirms the predelictons of most of us but also gives insights from other side of the road.