The Great Indian Queue

I was listening to a recent BBC podcast that listed out 50 (or 51 to those who followed) inventions that changed the modern economy. The list included all kinds of things, from the paper clip to diesel engines to the atomic bomb.

If I were allowed to indulge, I would like to add one more modern invention - The Queue System.

Imagine how disorderly things would be if it weren't for this system where everyone patiently waits their turn by standing in a line and waiting to be served.

Here's how Wikipedia defines the queue:

Queue areas are places in which people queue (first-come, first-served) for goods or services. Such a group of people is known as a queue(British usage) or line (American usage), and the people are said to be waiting or standing in a queue or in line, respectively. (In the New York City area, the phrase on line is often used in place of in line.) Examples include checking out groceries or other goods that have been collected in a self service shop, in a shop without self-service, at an ATM, at a ticket desk, a city bus, or in a taxi stand.

But Indians being Indians, we have created our own version of the queue. Here are some of my observations:

a. There will always be someone who tries to break the queue using ingenious ways.

b. If you maintain a gap with the person in front of you, the one from behind will surreptitiously creep up on you and try to overtake you.

c. No mercy will be shown for the elderly  or pregnant women

d. Will not wait patiently to be called. Will go to the counter un-called

e. My favourite - there will always be 3-4 people at the counter, standing next to each other. That itself is a mini-race of its own.

I'm sure if you think further, you will have more idiosyncrasies to add of your own.

But I wonder why we have such a morbid aversion to queues and are always trying to beat the system. One way to look at it is that we're competitive people - always trying to get ahead. The problem is that it's always at the detriment of the other.