Volume 5 · The Great Indian Bazaar · Essay 160

New Law

They call it a law, though no parliament passed it. New Law is a law of behaviour, and it enforces itself.

What makes this law useful is that it is predictive. If you know it, you can see tomorrow morning's mistake tonight. That is as close to prophecy as ordinary life allows.

Stand at a tea stall during a big cricket match and you will see a hundred strangers become one family in an evening. The same crowd, given a different match, can split over a surname.

Society is a long conversation; the only question is whether you are listening or merely waiting to speak. One page cannot change a life. But one recognised pattern can change a Tuesday, and lives are made of Tuesdays.