Friday, March 23, 2007

Chalta hai....

On my way to work today, the subway was a tad too crowded for comfort. No comparisions to the records set by the crowds in the mumbai locals, but by NY standards it was obnoxious. We could still accomodate a few here and there, but the reactions of people onboard got me thinking. There is a basic difference between these people and us indians. There might be a hundred other and I might have witnessed another hundred , but right now I am talking about this specific one. tolerance and accomodation. 2 words, but with essentially the same meaning. I was just trying to emphasize the difference here.

I understand personal space and all that bull crap of words these guys come up with, but what harm does the nudge of a tiny little bag of a lady do to you, who like you is just trying to reach her office on time. We could have picked up a lot more people from the platforms had this been a churchgate bound local. The difference I guess is situational. We have so many people in India that we don have the liberty of personal space, or for that matter any space. We are inadvertently invading spaces all the time in India. Its our "chalta hai" attitude towards life that just presses us to go that extra mile when it comes to accomodation.Someone steps on your well polished shoes, "chalta hai", because you know you had done the very same thing to atleast 10 different people on your way. Someones parked in your parking space in the society "chalta hai", you will park in someone else's space. Big deal. It really isn't big enough a matter to spend your precious energies on.

And thats what so cool about desh....everthing goes...."sab chalta hai!!"

PS : I love empty spaces and un-crowded places though. Infact, who doesn't.

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