Thoughts on standing in line in India

Standing in line is the bread and butter of the West. In the land where everyone is legally, if not socially equal we seem to feel that in almost every situation that standing in line is a pretty good way to fairly allocate whatever is given out.

India disagrees. India thinks that everyone pressing around whatever they're after is a good idea. India thinks that the noisiest, and pushiest person should get what they want - even if what they want is to get a good seat on the bus.

India favours the bold. India thinks that in traffic if you're in front of someone else you have the right of way - therefore everyone struggles to get in front. This applies both for pedestrians walking in traffic or for vehicles merging into traffic even if it's going much slower than everyone else. India thinks that if there is a narrow road it makes the most sense to just go into whatever bottleneck with little thought to how this bottleneck might best be sorted out.

India thinks that if you honk your horn you have the right of way. India thinks that bicycles don't need bells, the drivers of bicycles just need to make a weird "chht chht" sound that sounds more like a body being slowly dragged behind you than a bicycle that wants to get past.