DataFolks
A book about data and privacy for Indian readers — written as interactive chapters, using the dabbawala metaphor to make digital infrastructure legible.
DataFolks is a book about data and privacy written specifically for Indian readers. Not a textbook, not a policy document — a book that uses Indian systems and metaphors to explain how digital infrastructure actually works and what it means for the people who use it every day.
Why India Needs This Book
India has the world’s largest digital public infrastructure. UPI processes billions of transactions. Aadhaar covers over a billion identities. DigiLocker, CoWIN, ONDC — the India Stack is vast and growing.
Most Indians interact with these systems daily but have no mental model for how they work. What happens when you scan a QR code? Where does your Aadhaar data live? Who can see your UPI transaction history? These aren’t academic questions — they affect 1.4 billion people.
DataFolks answers these questions using Indian systems, Indian metaphors, and Indian stakes.
The Dabbawala Metaphor
The book’s central metaphor is the Mumbai dabbawala system. Just as dabbawalas move lunchboxes through a distributed network of handoffs, the internet moves data packets through a distributed network of routers.
This metaphor runs through every chapter: tracing data the way you’d trace a lunchbox, understanding intermediaries, seeing where the system is efficient and where it’s vulnerable.
Chapters in the Garden
DataFolks is being written as interactive chapters in the garden. Each chapter is a standalone node with embedded interactive components (powered by Leela) that let readers explore the concepts hands-on.
Published chapters:
- Chapter 1: What Is a Packet? — the atomic unit of the internet
- Chapter 2: How UPI Actually Works — tracing a single payment
- Chapter 3: Data Localisation in India — why data stays within borders
The ISBF Proposal
DataFolks originated as a proposal for the Indian School of Business and Finance (ISBF), designed as a curriculum module for students who understand finance but not the digital infrastructure underneath it. The book expanded beyond that original scope to address a general Indian audience.
Status
Writing in progress. Chapters 1-3 planted in the garden. Interactive prototypes pending Leela runtime development.