The Indian government is in crisis mode following the disastrous lead-up to the Commonwealth Games, which begins next month in New Delhi. Despite spending more than US$2 billion on the event itself, in addition to billions more on updating the city’s crumbling infrastructure, there is a real question as to whether holding the Games will actually harm India’s reputation as a rising power.

‘Money can’t buy me love,’ the Beatles once told us. Now economists like Jeffrey D. Sachs argue that money can’t buy you happiness, either.

I’m sitting on the train reading. A young man sits down diagonally opposite me and puts his feet up on the seat next to mine. I look at his feet, then catch his eye. He doesn’t flinch.