Why Indians do not Stand in Queues?

Indians just don’t like to wait patiently in a queue. Why? It took me years to figure out why, but now I am convinced that the reason has nothing to do with mutated genes or skewed education or indiscipline or lack of consideration for others. It is a cultural thing.

Cultural???

Come, let me take you back some 5000 years (give or take a few 1000 years, depending on who you believe). We are entering a very critical phase of an ongoing story. This is the bedroom of a person who has already been recognized as God. Krishna is sleeping. Duryodhana enters his bedroom. Looks around. There is only one seating place, near Krishna’s head. He sits there and patiently waits for Krishna to wake up. Shortly after Arjuna enters the chamber. He hesitates for a moment, Duryoshana, the person he hates, is in the bedroom before him. But he contains his anger and stands at the foot of the bed.

Shortly after Krishna wakes up. Who do you think he attends to first? Not the person who came first. But the person who Krishna sees first. So it is all about grabbing eye balls. Doesn’t matter who came in first. What matters is who the clerk / officer / babu / chaprasi decides to attend first.

There, you see why Indians do not like standing in the queue. As I said it is a cultural thingy.

The Great Indian Drama ... Continues

The Congress Party leadership evidently doesn't read a lot. Otherwise, Shashi Tharoor definitely wouldn't be in Congress Party. The tweeting ("cattle class") controversy pales in front of this.

In the brilliant satire, The Great Indian Novel, Shashi Tharoor has very cleverly casted the Indian Leaders as characters of the Mahabharata. And guess who is Jawahar Lal Nehru in the novel? The blind king Dhritarashtra and so it obviously follows that Indira Gandhi is Duryodhana - she is called Priya Duryodhani, the autocratic villain, daughter of Dhritarashtra and head of the Kaurava Party.

I am surprised that the Congress men known for their unflinching devotion to the Nehru-Gandhi family are not baying for Tharoor's blood. Or perhaps my original assumption holds good - The Congress Part Leadership does not read a lot. Ok, it is not to end a post in a negative note, so ... perhaps the inclusion of Shashi Tharoor into Congress and Ministry is a sign of a mature leadership that has a great sense of humour and recognises the experience that Tharoor brings into the External Affairs Ministry.