loveday on indian character

loveday on indian character

(talking about the indian chracter, loveday prior writes in her book 'punjab prelude' (publishers john murray, london 1952)

all indian business is like this. if you are a grain dealer, you put dirt to weigh in with the grain, even to a quarter or a third. if you are a cotton dealer, you mix the shorter cheaper indian staple with the american-indian staple. if you have wool shop, you may rehank all the imported wool so that every ounce is only three quarters of an ounce. if you are a coal contractor, you hand it over privately to your pals. if you get a building contract, you put in the shoddiest material that will remain upright, bribing the assessor to pass the completed work as "according to specifications". hindu business mentality may be summed up , "cheat if you can make it pay". bribe money is recognized expense, in business and in litigation. scandals occur in the highest places. a congressman scarcely second to nehru had a son doing splendidly in the bombay black market. a highly placed lahore gentleman was found to be the controlling magnate of the ghastly gang of lahore beggars, most of whom are bought as children and deliberately deformed to fit them to beg as hopeless cripples. and so on. (page 51-52) 

(note - loveday was a teacher in lahore. she was chritian. she had spent her childhood in india and returned later to be a teacher in the years 1943-49)