NEW DELHI ¨C Fairy tales always end with the words ¡°and they lived happily ever after,¡± which is why in our cynical age even toddlers have stopped taking them seriously.
Millions of adult Indians, however, enthusiastically propagate a grownup version of happily ever after.
In this fantasy, billions of dollars of ¡°black money¡± have been siphoned out of India over decades by corrupt politicians and businessmen; it lies securely in the discreet vaults of Swiss banks. Once a ¡°strong government¡± (perhaps the one just elected?) cracks the whip and brings this money home, India will cease being poor and take its rightful place among the world¡¯s superpowers.
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