Creeping Forward
A week ago, I was riding on my electric two-wheeler in Central Bangalore. I had stopped at a red light.
In Bangalore traffic, being in a red light is like pouring sand in a glass of pebbles. The pebbles are the cars which cover a chunk of the road. The sand - the scooters and bikes - proceed to occupy any space that is left. "Lanes" are meaningless here.
There was still a minute to go for the red to turn green, but the car in front of me found a little space ahead of it, so it inched forward a little - giving a path for a two-wheeler to sneak in for move a few meters ahead.
At this point I am aware that there is another bike right next to me, ready to move into that space. I am right in front of this new "path", so I have dibs on that space. But he tries to get ahead of me - he cuts in anyway.
I accelerate just enough to close the gap, zoom a little ahead, and occupy it.
I have thwarted his futile attempt to take my space. I have moved ahead.
All for a few meters worth of "headstart", which will probably be meaningless once the light turns green.
In some places, this might be considered "rude". Not here. This is how life is here.You try to occupy every single space that you get in front of you.
In a shop or when you are ordering takeout, you make sure you are right in front and telling the guy what you want, making sure the guy behind doesn't cut in. You try to switch that to that other shorter queue the moment to realize yours is slightly slower. You rush into a busy metro train even if you have to skip the line or push a few people in. At work, you slowly occupy more space (methaphorical, this time) to make sure you get a bigger team, bigger projects, a promotion.
Slowly creep forward to make sure you have it surrounded the "space", so that when it empties, you are right there - and others have no chance to take it.
From when you are young, you are taught to be competitive, study hard and get ahead, so that you aren't stuck in the middle. It just unconsciously happens now.
Its all about supply and demand - life is competitive here. You snooze you loose.
- In the 80s, people used to wait years for a phone connection.
- Millions spend 10 years of their prime youth attempting exams 10 times hoping to get into the coveted Civil Service, which has a selection rate of less than 0.1%.
- Shows by bands like Coldplay sell out in minutes because there were millions of people trying to book tickets for some 50,000 tickets.
All of these put you in the "survival-mindset" and you apply it to every part of your life. No one is going to remember you were first in line, you need to make sure you are heard, get what you need to do, and move on.
It is cut-throat. It is a low-trust society. There is barely any room for politeness. So when you do get ahead by inching forward, people will understand. They might be a little envious, and resent you. But they aren't going to cuss you out.
There are tons of people who celebrate it. They take the worst of it, and turn it into an advantage.
Abuse the power of their privilege to be ahead while the rest of the people are struggling to get ahead. Or use this to justify the "hustle" and how you need to screw people over to get ahead.
Do I like it? Absolutely not. But I understand it. And I live through it. Maybe even participate in it a bit. How can I not? I don't want to be left behind. There is some truth to the fact that being in this mindset gets you ahead in life in a certain sense.
It's not unique to India. It is a need for survival, and all humans behave like this to various degrees.
Only in an abundant society will people stop worrying about being left behind. The hope is that we get there as society progresses.
I want make myself conscious of it. Stop myself from occupying space unfairly. And if I am not losing anything, even let someone else go ahead.
Maybe in the future, people will be nice to each other. Maybe we can stop and smell the flowers, and all that jazz. Until then, we need to live in this world.