India Is a Low-Trust Society

I was at a chai stall last week, watching the owner count my change twice... no, three times actually. And I realized something - he wasn't being rude, he was just being Indian.

See, here's the thing about trust... it's not a switch you flip. It's a garden you tend over generations. And our garden? Well, let's just say it's had some rough weather.

India is a low-trust society. There, I said it. Not because we're bad people - we're actually incredibly hospitable, warm, generous to a fault. But trust?

That's different. Trust is what happens when you believe the system will protect you if things go wrong. And in India... the system is often the thing that goes wrong.

Think about it. Every transaction needs a witness. Every agreement needs to be in writing. Every promise comes with "pakka?" attached to it - because we've learned, the hard way, that words are wind. We've got more lawyers per capita than almost anywhere, not because we're litigious, but because everything needs to be ironclad before we move.

My grandfather used to say: "Trust everyone, but cut the cards." Classic Indian wisdom - warm on the surface, calculating underneath.

And you know what? I get it. When you've been invaded seventeen times, ruled by foreigners for centuries, and watched institutions crumble every few decades... you learn. You learn that the only person looking out for you is you. Maybe your family if you're lucky. Everyone else? They're just trying to survive, same as you.

We've never had the luxury of Scandinavian-style trust where you can leave your bike unlocked or your door open. In a country of 1.4 billion, where resources are scarce and competition is brutal, trust becomes... expensive.

It's not that we can't trust - it's that we can't afford to.

But here's the paradox - this very lack of trust creates the conditions that make trust impossible. It's a loop. I don't trust the government to provide clean water, so I install my own filter. You do the same. Now there's no pressure on the government to fix the system. And round and round we go.

The question isn't whether we're low-trust. We are.

The question is: can we change it?

And more importantly... do we want to?

Because building trust means building institutions that work. It means playing the long game when we're programmed for survival mode. It means being the change even when no one else is changing.

Small acts. Everyday trust. That's where it starts.

Or we keep counting the change three times.