Being Rude Indian

I recently came across Talk to the Hand (Lynne Truss) and it put me on the thought of rudeness in Indian society. I think we do not have any decency left in Indian society. People push each other around, everybody speaks English but has rarely used words like 'Thank You' or 'Sorry' or 'Excuse Me'. The part that drives me nuts is that nobody holds the door, for women, old people, children, handicapped. The worst part is that the people in this category don't expect the courtesies either. For example, another day at the Airport I let an old women go ahead she didn't even thank me! Women rarely expect door to be held open for them in India. Now it is a different story that Indian hypocrites argue that women are more respected in India (!).

I have my own theory for this utter rudeness in Indian society. I think that years of foreign rule have made people very protective and focussed on self-preservation. In the process people have simply forgotten to pay attention to others. The society became so self centered that people simply forgot that there are other people. The endemic queues for getting daily things and overall poverty for generations made even rich people to be greedy. This reflected in the behavior of the larger society. Indians have tough time in standing in queues, it is another thing that the famous for queueing British ruled India for more than 200yrs. Indians don't really excuse themselves before interrupting others. Indians don't say sorry for cutting the lanes and traffic rage is notorious (sometimes you might get stabbed simply because you were not giving the side for faster vehicle!). John Moulton argued that nation resided not in obedience to laws but abiding by conventions that were not obligatory. Indians at least presently have tough time in obeying the laws, we have long way to go to 'obedience of nonenforceables'.