This morning, at the petrol pump inside IIT Kanpur.
I joined the 'queue' to fill petrol in my bike. (Queue means a group of people crowding around the pump. The sequence of priority doesn't exist- might is right!
One fellow pulls up and squeezed his way through the queue and positions himself in front of my bike!
I said to him in stern, serious voice: "Please stand in the queue."
He looked at me as if I said something in Greek and said: "Ye jagah apka hi hai." (This place is yours.)
I remained quiet since he sounded apologetic. But when my turn to fill petrol came, he just squeezed in and filled petrol!
Now, what should I have said? According to Kanpur Style Manual (latest edition), I should have abused him verbally and thrashed him if I had time. But me being a Malayali kept quiet and mentally lamented about the yogi-run state's lack of respect for the other.
Here in Kanpur, you are elite if you can squeeze your way through the rush. You are considered respectable if you can kick others' asses and be the first in the queue. You are a heroine/hero if you can abuse someone louder and dirtier than your rival. Yes what the yogi said is right. We Malalayees need to learn a lot from UP: from how to run schools, hospitals and governments, to how to stand in a queue!
I joined the 'queue' to fill petrol in my bike. (Queue means a group of people crowding around the pump. The sequence of priority doesn't exist- might is right!
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| Image from Here (representational image only) |
I said to him in stern, serious voice: "Please stand in the queue."
He looked at me as if I said something in Greek and said: "Ye jagah apka hi hai." (This place is yours.)
I remained quiet since he sounded apologetic. But when my turn to fill petrol came, he just squeezed in and filled petrol!
Now, what should I have said? According to Kanpur Style Manual (latest edition), I should have abused him verbally and thrashed him if I had time. But me being a Malayali kept quiet and mentally lamented about the yogi-run state's lack of respect for the other.
Here in Kanpur, you are elite if you can squeeze your way through the rush. You are considered respectable if you can kick others' asses and be the first in the queue. You are a heroine/hero if you can abuse someone louder and dirtier than your rival. Yes what the yogi said is right. We Malalayees need to learn a lot from UP: from how to run schools, hospitals and governments, to how to stand in a queue!
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