In 1904, Elizabeth Magie invented The Landlord’s Game. It wasn’t meant to be a family pastime but a political lesson: that when land is monopolised, rents soar, and ordinary people get squeezed until their dreams collapse. The irony, of course, is that her warning was repackaged into Monopoly, a cheery board game where kids gleefully bankrupt each other.India, a century later, is not merely playing The Landlord’s Game, but is living it. Except here the board is stretched from Mumbai’s Worli to Bangalore’s Whitefield, the dice are rigged, and the “Chance” cards are bribes at the registration office. Everyone is told they’re a player. In reality, most are tokens, not players, just pieces moved at will.
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