Why we are the way we are

Bombay always looks beautiful when you're flying over it by night. But yesterday was espacially nice. There was an IPL match going on at D Y Patil stadium and it looked stunning from up there.
I'm still admiring the moving canvas of light, we're minutes away from landing when there's a tinkle. Yes, a mobile phone tinkle. The guy sitting right behind me has his phone on.
My co-passenger and I exchange a horrified glance. The phone continues to tinkle for a while and then stops. The plane lands and we come to a halt. I glance behind and see a youngish Sardar busy gathering his stuff.
"Um.. your phone was ringing some time ago?" I say to him.
"Yeah.. heh heh. I must have left it on."
Wow. You don't look like someone who is flying for the first time.
"If it's any consolation," he adds." I did not take the call".
Okay, so the point is not whether mobile signals really interfere with navigational equipment or not. The fact is, the airlines advise us here in India that this is the case. They have laid down a rule and we need to abide by that.
But Indians and 'respect for rules' are about as likely to be found together as IPL viewers in Fayetteville, Arkansas. And there's an interesting book on this subject which I happened to read recently: 'Games Indians Play' by V Raghunathan.
Raghunathan uses game theory and in particular the prisoner's dilemma toexplain 'why we are the way we are'.