Aswin Behera

DataFolks

The Hidden Lives of our Secret Selves

A book about data and privacy for Indian readers. Not a textbook — a book that uses Indian systems and metaphors to make digital infrastructure legible.

WRITING IN PROGRESS 3 of ~12 chapters published

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 them using Indian systems, Indian metaphors, and Indian stakes.

Central Metaphor

The Dabbawala System

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.

Table of Contents

Chapters

  1. 01

    What Is a Packet?

    The atomic unit of the internet — traced like a lunchbox through the dabbawala network.

    published
  2. 02

    How UPI Actually Works

    Tracing a single payment from tap to settlement. Who sees what, and where it lives.

    published
  3. 03

    Data Localisation in India

    Why data stays within borders — the politics and pipes of sovereignty.

    published
  4. 04

    The Aadhaar Machine

    A billion identities, a single database. How authentication works at scale.

    forthcoming
  5. 05

    Consent & the DPDP Act

    India's privacy law in practice — what consent means when the form is 47 pages long.

    forthcoming

Origin

The ISBF Proposal

DataFolks originated as a proposal for the Indian School of Business and Finance — 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.

Each chapter is standalone — start anywhere.

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