Chander Gupta
Aren’t the signs and sounds of impatience visible and audible all around us? What does the relentless blaring of honks on roads indicate? Everybody on the roads seems to be in a tearing hurry. Our impatience behind the wheels creates such a loud commotion on the roads which incidentally becomes very intimidating for pedestrians. Many of us drive so fast on roads as if competing in a Formula One race. Occurrence of road rages is attributable to steam of impatience gathering inside us.
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You may further gauge the levels of impatience if you board a lift in a crowded place like a shopping mall. After the lift takes you to the floor you want to alight at, you will face difficulty getting out as the passage will be blocked by those wanting to enter the lift. We do not exhibit patience to allow people inside to step out first but rather would try to rush in as soon as the doors of the lift slide open. The same scene is witnessed when a bus or train arrives. The waiting passengers try to barge in without first letting the passengers inside to alight comfortably.
Another manifestation of impatience can also be observed in aeroplanes. As soon as a civilian aircraft touches down the runway, the passengers on board unfasten their seat belts and stand up while the plane is still taxiing. There is a beeline in the aisle as if every single second is crucial to disembark the plane as fast as possible.
All kinds of passengers, irrespective of whether they are travelling in bus, or train, or aeroplane, display the same kind of impatience in dodging others in exiting the door ‘first’ on reaching their destination. Same scene is enacted in theatres and cinema hall when the show is over. The audience would make a dash for the exit doors even while the honours are underway or credits are still scrolling down.
The same scenario of impatience is enacted at buffet counters. As soon as the buffet is opened, everyone rushes to crowd the counters as if the food were in short supply. It is often seen that after filling their plates to the brim, many guests discard their plates with half the food uneaten.
Public display of impatience is becoming all pervasive. Standing too close to, almost touching, the next person in a queue also tantamounts to public display of impatience. Firstly, we are not inclined to stand in queues unless there is some regulation to stand in a queue. Per force if we have to stand in a queue, we do not stand in a relaxed manner. Rather we stand in a squeezed manner as if that would reduce the number of people standing in the queue. The more squeezed the queue, the shorter it appears or deludes us to believe so. If there is no regulated queue, we sort of create an unseemly melee on the counter.
Why and what for are we in such a hurry? Why is there conspicuous display of impatience in public across all strata? Is it the streak of one-upmanship in us that causes public display of impatience? Impatience leads to stress, strife, quarrels and even mishaps. Stop a while, slow down a bit. For a change, give way to others. Public display of courtesy and civility will benefit us all.
