Two thoughtful articles related to India appear in The Economist and The New Yorker. The former looks at a new “Indian mutiny” in Malaysia. It argues that Indians have lost faith in the country’s social contract. “The two minorities (Chinese and Indian) were given citizenship in return for accepting that ethnic Malays and other indigenous groups, would enjoy privileged access to state jobs and education. But whereas the majority population have, with official help, started catching up with the Chinese... the Indians still have few assets.” Furthermore, “creeping Islamisation” has led to attacks during Hindu festivals and on temples. This could lead to a violent confrontation between the races.

The New Yorker say yes to Nano and ‘The Tata Invasion’. James Surowiecki explains that when the company bid for Jaguar and unveiled the cheapest car in the world, everyone asked “Who?” Tata has made most of its fortune at home and in developing economies, “while selling to people who are still pretty poor.” This marks a fundamental change from the past: “Today, the economies of developing countries are still only a fraction of the size of Western economies, but many nonetheless have growing middle and upper classes with disposable income”. For Americans and Europeans who are shocked by the cheek of it all, Surowiecki has a cautionary reminder: “When we persuaded developing countries to open their doors to us, we also opened our doors to them. Now they’re walking through.”

Time magazine is feeling less than romantic. In its cover story “Science of Love”, it reduces that four letter emotion to a combination of smell, taste and “oxytocin”. “If ever there was a substance designed to bind (couples), it’s oxytocin.”