I've been living in India since the age of 18. I came to Bangalore when I was 23. The thing that used to infuriate me 8 years ago and that still infuriates me is: cutting lines.
People fail to understand the concept of 'queues'. When they see a queue, what goes through their heads are: 'Cannot understand order. Must disintegrate and create chaos. Chaaarrggee!!'
At my office, we need to x-ray our bags when we leave the premises. Obviously at peak hours, there's bound to be a long line of people waiting to get through. There is this unbelievably annoying woman who, in spite of being sufficiently educated (I remember having learnt about queues in Social Civic classes during the 2nd grade), comes reasonably late, looks at the long queue ahead of herself, cuts in at the front and places her bag in the x-ray machine. Obviously, she is undeniably the queen of the world. I have seen her in action only once, though my colleague tells me it's a regular practice.
Over the weekend, I went grocery shopping at the local mall. Big mistake. Saturday night at the mall is a horrible sight to behold: people at their worst, trying to run over the others who may stand in the way of their trolleys.
I was at the vegetable counter, trying to get my items priced. His Highness was clearly behind me in line, but placed his veggies on the counter before I could. The A/C was off. I was hot and sweaty and quickly reached my breaking point. I promptly shoved his veggies to the side and put mine in. Glares were exchanged but life went sweatily on.
The express counter is supposed to be for 10 items or less, and can be paid in cash only. Of course, nobody really bothers. So I, the idiot, stood in line with my 5 items, while people with overflowing trolleys stood ahead of me. Of course, most of them just had to pay by card. If the cashier tried to explain that cards were not accepted, the customers made a fuss. So really, the 'Express' counter was clearly anything but.
A lady with ice-cream cartons tried to cut in front of me. I, taking advantage of my wide body, wouldn't give her an inch to slide by. The result? She took her place behind me and shoved the cold ice-cream boxes against my back. Puurr-fect.
Another shining example of people's total disregard of maintaining rules is the auto rikshaw driver. He won't go where you want to go. And if he does take you there, he swindles you so that you can't go anywhere else. The public transportation law states something, but clearly he is above it all.
I have to admit that when I came to Bangalore for the first time, I was pretty passive and docile with strangers. I held onto my traits as staunchly and as long as I could.
I'm not the same anymore. And you can't be the same, either. It's not Bangalore that's the problem. I guess every other city has it's demerits. And if you need to survive, you need to adapt.
I only wish that it were good changes that we were taking in. Instead, more often than not, we get to see the ruthless side of others and they of us.
