The Lowly Elite of Delhi

Every time I have an encounter with the richie rich class of Delhi, I am appalled...........No no I am not jealous of their money or designer clothes and jewellery and the luxury cars but at their obvious lack of decorum and etiquette. Recently I had the pleasure of attending a special screening show of a movie with a friend, the show was especially for the elite of Delhi( read millionaires) and the first thought that came to my mind was that the regular shows I attend for the movies with the junta crowd had more decorum than this one...I guess because everyone here was rich in their own right, had come wearing the designer labels, the lobby at the theatre could masquerade for a perfume gallery ( the kind where the various fragrances could get you so lost that you just might faint if you didn’t watch it). There were accented English sounds around us that made me wonder if I was in a dream and in America.

Well, so far so good and it was amusing to look and experience. But the antics at the snack counter were disgusting. A family was fighting with the fellow behind the counter as they wanted the snack to be something other than the voucher that the sponsor had provided. When the poor fellow at the counter apologised that this could not be, they were ready to take his life as he was so stuck on the rules.............Well, standing behind them ( with my patience wearing thin), it struck me that the other snack was so affordable and if they did not want this one which was free, why won’t they just open their wallet and buy it? Strange but true, they did not want to pay and called up the people at the sponsor’s end to protest and earn their alternate snack..............to top the situation was the fact that they gave two hoots to the fact that there was a queue of people right behind them waiting their turn to get the snack.......
Now if you thought that was it, no, there was a whole pack of popcorns that had spilled on to the floor and the people just walked over the popcorn as if nothing mattered. Weren’t we all taught to respect food when we were young and especially that it was not meant to be trodden upon? Seems like these elite came from another planet. I got dirty looks when I brought this to the notice of the man behind the counter, the looks seem to suggest that I was trying to be miss goody two shoes in the elite environment and that too in my non designer clothes and the muted look. Well, I am grateful to god for my bread and have enough respect not to tread upon it atleast knowingly............
Then came the time to watch the movie and the entry door opened, and lol the sembelance of the queue suddenly broke down and there was much jostling and pushing to get it. Hello, the seats were already allotted on the tickets buddy so what’s the rush? Chalo, you were excited about the movie and wanted to get in and not miss a single bit, accepted, but trying to get in that way...phew! they would even beat the front row benchers hollow.
Then, the show begins and there are these busy people who won’t get off their mobile phones, arre bhai, itne busy ho to aaye kyon? I did manage to make some noises to shut them up ( atleast the ones around me) but the rings kept the disturbance on through out the show. There was a repeat of the jostle at the exit after the movie and I was so happy to leave the company of these so called elite of Delhi.............
I often wonder why people think that they should earn your respect because they have pots of money and fat bank accounts. To my mind respect is earned by your conduct and etiquette when dealing with others. The money ceases to matter beyond a point, I really wish that the future generation of these elite improve or else, we are all in trouble.