Volume 4 · The Ledger and the Loom · Essay 179

Onesidedness Property

Onesidedness Property is a lens. Nothing in the world changes when you pick it up, but quite a lot becomes visible.

The idea is simple, and like most simple ideas it is easy to nod at and hard to use. The nod is free. The use costs attention, every day, in small change.

Consider the chit fund in a small town. It survives not on contracts but on the shame of defaulting before neighbours. Reputation is the oldest collateral in India.

Money is a good clerk and a terrible master; the arrangement is entirely up to us. Tomorrow will provide the test. It always does.