So, my first experience with Indians is that they're not very conscientious (relatively speaking) of personal space. On landing in Mumbai, I stood up and walked forward till there was a nice lady who had stood in the aisle. I had 4 hours to make my connection, so I was fine--I left a foot or so behind her till the short fellow behind me pressed his entire body flat against my backside. He was short enough that his pudgy tummy ran right into my buttocks--a less than pleasant feeling, if you can imagine. So I took a step 2 inches closer to the woman, and the guy behind me took a step 3 inches closer to me. I figured rather than push my luck and run out of space in front, I'd quit where I was. We stood like that for another 15 minutes or so before we cleared off the plane.
So, I got in at about 2:00am, and had to pick up my backpack at the baggage claim and transfer it to the domestic side. I was one of the first people there, so I stood by the baggage claim belt, and no fewer than three people ran their carts into me, quite on purpose. By the third time, I was wedged into a small space between two carts, and the woman ran it into me twice, not too gently, before I looked back at her, and she asked me to leave my spot by the belt so she could stand by the belt, despite there being no bags on the belt yet... I was aghast, but figured it wouldn't kill me to step out of her way and wait another 30 seconds for my bag.
I guess you just learn to deal with those sorts of things when you've got 900 million people crammed into a country smaller than the US.
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