Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures—and Yours

Chapter Five

Manna and Miasma

Meanderings Through the Chinese and Indian Financial Firmaments

When I was a boy my father would send me, passbook in hand, to our branch of the Punjab National Bank in Delhi’s Safdarjung neighborhood. Standing guard outside the bank was a Sikh, resplendent in his flaming orange turban and holding a long-barreled rifle that looked incapable of being fired. He reminded me of the pictures in my history textbook of Sikhs standing guard outside British banks in Shanghai earlier in the century, ready to confront unfair aggression with more gallantry and chivalry than effective weaponry. I discovered that flashing a friendly smile was all I needed to do to gain a closer look at the rifle, which was my real reason for agreeing ...