ABSTRACT
A loud bell rings and in the background I can hear the voice of a commentator with a British accent announcing that the horses have left the stalls, and are off and running. I am stuck in the midst of a throng of Indian men, crammed together in front of a bookmaker’s booth, eager to bet on the horse that has emerged as the favorite. The odds on the horse have come down to ‘80 paisa’, or 80/100, which means that the potential returns are relatively small. Still, the men in the group are determined to bet on this particular horse and do not at any point turn their heads to the television screens to see how the horse is running: their focus is on the odds and the betting booth.
