In a series of stupidly executed moves my cab comes to another another temporary state of stillness in a massive overwhelming jam. Temporary because the resilient driver pushes it inch by inch in the few inches of space. I seriously believe cab and auto drivers think they're like that magic bus driver in 'Prisoner of Azkaban' that takes Hairy Pooper to that place with the cauldron that drips like the last few drops of pee. Magically the inches of gap between my cab and the one in front of it keeps reappearing in spite of my driver's relentless attempts to cover it till the cab kisses the butt of the cab in front of it. The driver of the cab in front of me must also be one of those magic bus drivers.
The traffic in Bangalore is more like sheep trying to get into a barricaded field through a little gate. I browse through so many documentaries on how well humans have evolved, but looks like there's a special case in Bangalore where the DNA has stubbornly refused to carry over the long learnt aspect of a Queue.
The whole concept has somehow been lost in the pages of history. If things go on like this, I feel sometime in the future our children's children's stupid children will talk about how their great great ancestors were capable of purchasing tickets from a kiosk in an orderly fashion. On the positive side, we are at the cusp of witnessing the loss this amazing human behavior.
It all starts with a gentle push. When the guy behind you, close enough that he is constantly touching your behind and you can almost feel his cigarette and paan soaked breath stain the back of your neck, decides to give you a gentle push hoping that it would set a chain reaction of stellar magnitude making the queue move at super sonic speeds till he reaches the kiosk allowing him to have a lengthy bargain and a little chat about life's ups and downs with the ticket seller at the kiosk. When he gets disappointed by the fact that the queue is moving at its own pace and is not giving any heed to the desires and needs of the guy behind, he decides to give another gentle push. A quality of us, Bangaloreans, Indians, is that we don't speak. I don't turn around and ask the person kindly to be patient. I don't really know the right words or how to say it. I have observed enough to see that many don't. Another quality of human life that is getting lost in the dusty pages of history.
In that situation where Im getting a gentle push from the person behind me with his overgrown tummy, I decide to let the person in front of me handle the problem and start pushing him. The guy behind me did start a chain reaction at this point but this reaction is so slow, like an old wrought iron gate rusting over the years, that it brings nobody any joy or relief. But we keep pushing each other, hoping someday, somehow, the queue will mover faster.
As time progresses people are getting smarter and they've begun to understand that queues are very stubborn. They move in only one direction and they can't control the pace of its movement by being in the queue. So they start approaching the kiosk from other possible avenues. This behavior has been in vogue in the recent past. Most shops encourage this new radical approach that humans have taken. They have a wide opening where anybody can order anything at any point of time. Like a medical store.
Recommended movie: Idiocracy
The traffic in Bangalore is more like sheep trying to get into a barricaded field through a little gate. I browse through so many documentaries on how well humans have evolved, but looks like there's a special case in Bangalore where the DNA has stubbornly refused to carry over the long learnt aspect of a Queue.
The whole concept has somehow been lost in the pages of history. If things go on like this, I feel sometime in the future our children's children's stupid children will talk about how their great great ancestors were capable of purchasing tickets from a kiosk in an orderly fashion. On the positive side, we are at the cusp of witnessing the loss this amazing human behavior.
It all starts with a gentle push. When the guy behind you, close enough that he is constantly touching your behind and you can almost feel his cigarette and paan soaked breath stain the back of your neck, decides to give you a gentle push hoping that it would set a chain reaction of stellar magnitude making the queue move at super sonic speeds till he reaches the kiosk allowing him to have a lengthy bargain and a little chat about life's ups and downs with the ticket seller at the kiosk. When he gets disappointed by the fact that the queue is moving at its own pace and is not giving any heed to the desires and needs of the guy behind, he decides to give another gentle push. A quality of us, Bangaloreans, Indians, is that we don't speak. I don't turn around and ask the person kindly to be patient. I don't really know the right words or how to say it. I have observed enough to see that many don't. Another quality of human life that is getting lost in the dusty pages of history.
In that situation where Im getting a gentle push from the person behind me with his overgrown tummy, I decide to let the person in front of me handle the problem and start pushing him. The guy behind me did start a chain reaction at this point but this reaction is so slow, like an old wrought iron gate rusting over the years, that it brings nobody any joy or relief. But we keep pushing each other, hoping someday, somehow, the queue will mover faster.
As time progresses people are getting smarter and they've begun to understand that queues are very stubborn. They move in only one direction and they can't control the pace of its movement by being in the queue. So they start approaching the kiosk from other possible avenues. This behavior has been in vogue in the recent past. Most shops encourage this new radical approach that humans have taken. They have a wide opening where anybody can order anything at any point of time. Like a medical store.
Recommended movie: Idiocracy