Q for what?

I was reading this column by Jon Stock in The Week when I was reminded of an incident yesterday at the Reliance Fresh outlet near my place. I had gone veg-provision shopping with the maid and the kids hoping to combine an evening walk with some business - a disastrous decision since the brats were lifting a chocolate bar each for themselves from the racks apart from cool drinks and snacks, and putting in all the unwanted veggies into my cart.
I was not in my best possible frame of mind or mood when I reached the billing counter. There were two people in front and I waited, keeping an eye on the trio that were my responsibilty. An elderly man queued behind me soon. He eyed my full basket and asked me if I'd mind if he went before me since he had only half a dozen stuff to bill. I relented and let him go before me considering his age. By the time his stuff was being billed, two ladies came and stood behind me. One asked me if I'd mind letting them go in front since they had fewer stuff than me. This time I put my foot down. I said I had already let in one person (who by then thanked me for my courtesy and went his way) and had no intention of letting in more people in a hurry and wait there the whole night.
As I put my basket on the counter, a guy popped in with a packet of wheat and thrust it at the cashier. I decided against making a fuss since the billing guy had already collected it, keeping my stuff aside. The ladies meanwhile cribbed in Tamil and considered the options of trying the other long 'Q's. They didnt. I collected my stuff and went in search of my wards causing a mini-havoc inside the store.
The store doesnt have a separate counter for shoppers with one or two buys, like some other supermarkets. But why on earth are people in such a hurry here? Whereever we go, people are jostling their way forward - to take possession of a just-vacated seat in a bus pushing you aside or to rush to make offerings at church sidestepping the main queue. And at church I find it is the women who are in a hurry.

My father tells me that Indians were most well-behaved during the Emergency. They lined up even to board a bus. I guess we need another Emergency/military rule to make people learn to behave.