Why Do We Always Try to Be “Dedh Shaana/Oversmart”?
There is something fascinating about everyday life in India.
We complain about traffic, but drive on the wrong side to save five minutes.
We complain about delays, but arrive late ourselves.
We complain about queues, but still look for a way to jump ahead.
We complain about inefficient systems, but then search for a loophole instead of simply following the process.
And when something goes wrong?
“Meri galti nahi hai.”
Maybe the bigger question isn’t why Indians don’t know the rules.
Maybe it’s why we so often believe the rules are meant for everyone else.
🚗 The Wrong-Side Driving Mentality
You are stuck in traffic.
The proper route will take another five minutes.
So what do you do?
Take the wrong side.
The justification is usually:
“Bas thoda sa jaana hai.”
“Road khaali hai.”
“Sab karte hain.”
But what happens when everyone thinks the same way?
The road becomes chaos.
Your five-minute shortcut becomes someone else’s problem.
And sometimes, it becomes much worse than that.
🧠 Why Do We Try to Be “Too Smart”?
There is a difference between being intelligent and being unnecessarily clever.
We sometimes take pride in finding ways around simple rules.
A form asks for certain documents.
Instead of collecting them, we ask:
“Iska koi jugaad hai?”
There is a queue.
Instead of waiting:
“Kisi ko jaante ho?”
There is a process.
Instead of following it:
“Shortcut kya hai?”
This is where jugaad can become indiscipline disguised as intelligence.
🛠️ Jugaad: Good or Bad?
Jugaad itself isn’t bad.
In fact, India’s ability to improvise can be a tremendous strength.
The problem starts when we use jugaad not to solve a problem, but to avoid responsibility.
There is a big difference between:
“How can I solve this?”
and
“How can I avoid doing this properly?”
The first is innovation.
The second is often just laziness with creativity.
⏰ Why Do We Love the Last Minute?
Give someone a deadline of Friday.
Nothing happens on Monday.
Nothing happens on Tuesday.
Nothing happens on Wednesday.
Thursday comes.
Still nothing.
Friday afternoon arrives.
Suddenly:
URGENT!!!
Everyone starts working.
Phones start ringing.
Messages start flying.
People start staying late.
And somehow the same task that could have been completed comfortably over five days becomes a crisis that must be solved in five hours.
Why?
Because we often don’t respect deadlines until they become emergencies.
📅 “I’ll Do It Tomorrow”
This habit isn’t limited to offices.
It happens everywhere.
Bills.
Documents.
Appointments.
Applications.
Assignments.
Renewals.
Even simple personal tasks.
We postpone them until they become urgent.
Then we complain about stress.
But sometimes the problem isn’t the workload.
The problem is delayed responsibility.
🤷 And Then We Blame the Situation
We are late.
“Traffic tha.”
We missed the deadline.
“Bahut kaam tha.”
We didn’t read the instructions.
“Kisi ne properly bataya nahi.”
We made a mistake.
“System hi kharab tha.”
Sometimes these reasons are genuine.
But sometimes they are simply excuses.
The uncomfortable question is:
“What could I have done differently?”
That question requires accountability.
And accountability isn’t always comfortable.
🚶 The Queue Problem
Standing in a queue should be simple.
One person comes before you.
You wait.
Your turn comes.
But somehow there is always someone trying to enter from the side.
Then comes:
“Bhai, bas ek minute.”
One minute becomes five.
Five becomes ten.
And the people who actually followed the rules end up paying the price.
😑 “Sab Karte Hain”
Perhaps one of the most dangerous sentences in our everyday vocabulary is:
“Sab karte hain.”
Everybody does it.
Everybody comes late.
Everybody jumps the queue.
Everybody drives from the wrong side.
Everybody finds shortcuts.
Everybody ignores the rules.
But something doesn’t become right simply because many people do it.
If everyone starts breaking the same rule, the problem becomes bigger—not acceptable.
💸 Who Actually Pays for the Shortcut?
This is the part we often forget.
Your shortcut rarely affects only you.
You drive from the wrong side.
Someone coming correctly has to brake.
You arrive late.
Someone else has to wait.
You submit your work late.
Your colleague has to stay back.
You don’t follow the process.
Someone else has to fix the mistake.
Your shortcut becomes someone else’s inconvenience.
🔄 A Small Problem Becomes a Big System
Imagine 100 people using a system properly.
Everything works reasonably well.
Now 20 people start bending the rules.
They want exceptions.
They want shortcuts.
They ignore deadlines.
They don’t follow instructions.
The system now needs:
- More checking
- More reminders
- More security
- More paperwork
- More supervision
- More enforcement
Eventually, everyone complains:
“Why is everything so complicated?”
Because people made a simple system complicated.
🇮🇳 We Don’t Need More Rules
Maybe India doesn’t need another rule for every small problem.
Maybe we need something more basic:
Respect for existing rules.
A traffic rule isn’t there to irritate you.
A queue isn’t there to waste your time.
A deadline isn’t there to punish you.
A process isn’t necessarily bureaucracy.
Rules exist because millions of people have to share the same roads, offices, buildings and public spaces.
🧘 Being Disciplined Is Not Being Weak
Following rules is sometimes portrayed as being less clever.
It shouldn’t be.
There is nothing impressive about reaching somewhere three minutes earlier by creating chaos.
There is nothing impressive about submitting work at 11:59 PM when you had two weeks.
There is nothing impressive about finding a loophole in a simple instruction.
Real discipline can look incredibly boring.
Be on time.
Follow the instructions.
Stand in the queue.
Drive on the correct side.
Finish the work before the deadline.
Admit when you are wrong.
🌱 Maybe the Change Starts With Us
We often complain about India.
Traffic.
Pollution.
Bureaucracy.
Delays.
Poor civic sense.
Unprofessional behaviour.
But society isn’t something separate from us.
We are society.
Every time we break a small rule because:
“Kisko pata chalega?”
we contribute to the culture we later complain about.
The Five-Minute Rule
Maybe we need a simple principle:
Don’t make your five-minute shortcut someone else’s thirty-minute problem.
Don’t drive on the wrong side.
Don’t jump the queue.
Don’t make people wait unnecessarily.
Don’t miss deadlines and expect everyone else to adjust.
Don’t create problems and then blame the situation.
And don’t confuse breaking rules with being smart.
Because sometimes the smartest thing you can do is surprisingly simple: