One of my more annoying habits is spending time looking at customer complaint forums online. I do this not because the pain experienced by other people brings me joy, but because it serves as such a great indicator of the million things that can, and do, go wrong around us on a regular basis. I do it because it serves as a reminder that for every politician speaking about how we are now a global power, there are everyday realities slapping us in the face to remind us that we are still a third-world country. It is a reminder of how helpless we really are.

Complaints against banks are among the most heartbreaking things to read on these sites because one cannot possibly imagine the plight of people who can’t read or write trying to gain access to much-needed money that legally belongs to them. I shudder to think about what happens outside the borders of urban India, in that vast hinterland where regional bank managers sit in judgment on the lives and incomes of millions of workers, deciding who can be paid, and when. If this sounds like fantasy, you probably haven’t stepped out of your vehicle in a while.