Herd Mentality...and raucous tatterdemalions

Okay...so I'm really sorry to be away for so long. I mean really. But writing a blog is like giving birth to a baby...videotaping it, and putting it on youtube. What happens is, when you get a good idea, there are all sorts of problems that come up. Like, an anvil drops on your head.. Or Bugs Bunny decides to take that left turn at Alberquerque, thus disrupting the space time continuum.. or you have a proxy server capable of tunneling HTTP and not HTTPS, in order to prevent you from using any site that needs secure login verification, like blogger, for example, but we wont go into specifics.

But none of that matters right now. I'm back. And what triggered this, rather delayed call to action, was the behaviour, in loco, of a rather obfuscate, en masse. Which kindof means I saw loads of people get up to some really stupid shit. And, yes, I will elaborate, and yes it will be a list of 5 things that you may or may not be interested in. Why am i soo predictable? You try writing a 100 blogs...in the same tedious style, and you would be too.. :P (Shouts out to Devil...and thanks for giving me a really entertaining..and very clueless night). But the reason, why human beings, in general, have surpassed every other living species, despite being considerably stupider than at least 3 of them, is the same reason why you stand in line at the ATM, or watch the India-Australia cricket match...yes, its simply because everyone else is doing it.

Here are some examples of crowd behaviour gone horribly wrong:

1.People panicking because there's waay too many people getting off the train(Indian Railways mahaan) for people to get in...and willing to jump on top of people's heads just to get in. Getting to Danapur is appropriate justification to risk your life, for some people

2.The Kumbh Mela. That's it. Enough Said.

3.Pandal hoppers caught in a fire in the middle of Ashtami. They're so thankful for the distraction, they wouldn't mind the searing flames.

4.Going to class on a holiday. It only happens because you see other people going. And yet others would only go, if they see you going...and the chain goes on. Doesn't matter if its a national holiday..or even below freezing point, or an earthquake in progress.

5.Watching Cricket. You only do it so that others don't think you're a complete dweeb at the water cooler the next day.

No, but really, its difficult to come up with a rational excuse for doing the things that we do, because of the herd mentality. And while there are many names for it..peer pressure, imitation, queen bee, OCD, Tourette's Syndrome...what remains fact is what we do. Is just to make sure we're like everyone else..