A rude world indeed...

We live in a really fast paced world where the idea of courtesy and humanism is getting lost in the milieu. There are too many people and too few slots/spots/salespeople/etc/etc and due to the pigeon-hole principle, only those who are speediest/first get the service they desire and others are made to wait. Due to this, people generally are always in a rush to reach someplace, lest someone else take the place.

And if they do indeed reach the spot a little late, they are unwilling to wait but try to jostle and bully because in this world of imperfection, first-come first-serve is not perfect either. They would do anything to get there, even drive their bikes on pavements and honk at pedestrians peacefully walking there.

Bangalore is one of those places in the world where the amount of people is surfeit than the amount of people that the city can withstand. So, there is a rush everywhere. Malls, stores, Foodworlds, movie halls, Big Bazaars, everywhere there is a mad rush and a situation dangerously close to a stampeded. Business is booming and because of this, salespeople are no longer concerned about making sales because there is no shortage of customers to the store and no shortage of sales (of course, these are stores in prime locations where stampedes are a daily occurance).

I went around to shop for a mobile phone because a friend of mine made an offer for my current one that I could not refuse. The first shop I went to, this was on church street, was filled with customers. I managed to get to the salesman and told him that I wanted to buy a phone and wanted to look at a particular range of cell phones. He just showed me the boxes. I asked him for the features and he gave me a manual. I wanted to look at the physical phones and browse through their features, because so often the advertisement and the box do not represent the crappy nature of the product they represent. He says that they do not have any demo phones and I ask him how are we supposed to choose then. He just shrugs and moves on to the next customer! The guy did not have the courtesy to apologise or say that they could show me some model that looks the same or even suggest some alternatives. He was just plain disinterested in selling.

Why? Because whether I bought a phone or not, he still would get someone who would buy some phone without his putting in any effort! I left the shop and found another where the person was willing to show me the phones and explain to me what features were there in different ones. I finally did buy the one that I initially had picked out to buy but now I knew that it was exactly what I needed and there was no other phone which was better suited to my requirements.

Despite there being so many shops in the area, I had to struggle to find a shop where the shopkeeper was genuinely interested in displaying his wares and selling his product. I have a feeling that a little time later, no shop would show you the mobile phone. You would be asked to choose one of the boxes with the printed features on them. That would be the death of the capitalistic philosophy but the logical conclusion of this scenario of excessive demand. The guy was probably overworked and distraught after having served so many customers and was no longer interested in serving one more.

Is this the fault of the people in the service industry alone? No. People, generally, have lost the politeness that is the hallmark of human civilization (at least, that is what I think). Because if you are going to push, shove and jostle to ensure that you are the first to reach the waterhole, you might as well live in the jungle. Which is probably tho origin of the phrase "concrete jungle".

I really hate living in the city where you have to encounter such characters everyday and still have to maintain your peace of mind. The hardest thing is the effort that goes into not becoming them as it is so easy to give into the frustration and punch the next guy who exhibits rude behaviour.

Of course, there are some places in Bangalore where you know that the people who come in are the decent folk and you feel at peace there. Pecos is one such place. I love the music too.

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