Fights and fisticuffs, almost!

So I picked several fights today-- on Saraswati Puja.
I'm still trying to make sense of this country called India. While many of its residents are riding its wave of success, many more have not just been left behind, but are trying to make sense of all that is happening around them,including the presence of huge supermarkets like RelianceFresh (loved the place), and manifoldincrease of the prices of everything from petrol to day-to-day essentials.
Anyways, the first fight (maybe not exactly a fight), was with a random roadside rowdy. Maha and I were going on the bike, to enquire about a school closeby. The bike seemed to be a bitout of whack, and stopped after going a few feet everytime.
A bike, who was behind us, was continuously honking (with some good reason), as we were snaking on the road. Two kids passing by said something to the effect of 'Ladies,don't disturb." There was another lady in front of us,a vendor who was carrying a basket of greens, or something like that.
I called out to the guy, and followed him to his office, and started shouting outside the office. I scolded the guy outside, and told him that the world was going places, and this guy was interested in teasing women. I gave a spiel about women being offended and how we were not able to walk in peace blah blah. I asked for the supervisor, but was not given a proper answer. We wanted to ask Amma about the bike, so we parked the bike there and walked toward home.
The guys probably thought we were going to call the police or something. After we asked Amma, who advised us to keep giving it the choke constantly.
When we went bak to where the bike was parked, a few boys (hardly 15-16), were standing outside and asked for our forgiveness. They said that boy was crazy, etc.! I felt good for a little bit, but then started thinking about the boy who teased us. Where was he getting all this? From movies? Around him? His parents? How far had he studied? Why did he stop?

Anyways, the second was hardly a fight -- a taxi which was parked right outside our house was blasting music, perhaps oblivious to the fact that it might disturb others. I went to the taxi, and was almost ready to switch off the music manually (the windows were open), but turned out the driver was awake, and speaking on his cell phone. I told him it was disturbing us,and he immediately acquiesced, turning the volume down. I realised the concept of personal space was a bit different in India.

Then, I went to Maha's parents' house, and then to Vijay's peripa's.There was the real fight, quite unnecessary, i might add. Our hosts were on the third floor, and we went with my nephew Govind (three years old, I might add). He was already cranky, and we were sure making him climb the stairs would worsen him. We were directed toward the elevator, but there was a puja in progress right outside it -- a Saraswati Puja of the building, sort of. I asked the gentleman there if we could use the elevator. An older man, he said something roughly translated as, "What would you do if there were no elevator?"
Already on a short fuse, I got mad. I asked the man why we couldn't use it, and he muttered something under his breath. I went off on a tangent, clearly misunderstanding what he said. Then, even after he offered us the lift, I used the stairs, dragging poor Maha and Govind along. I muttered inanities ("They worship God, but clearly don't worry about human beings," etc.) all the way up. On the way down, we used the lift, and dropped straight into the proceedings! After some jostling, we got out, and an older lady said, "This is why he asked you to use the stairs." I thought to myself, "I understand, but isn't there a way to say everything? Why say something like that, instead of something nicer, especially to guests of the building?" Again, I guess presentation is not an important part of Indian culture.

Well, I feel like "Anniyan's" Vikram, Rules Ramanujam. I was speaking with Malar about the whole staring thing today, and she asked me, "So what's wrong with staring? It's just an indian thing. Just because Americans don't do it, doesn;t mean it's wrong, does it?" Point taken, I guess.

I'm also feeling a general sense of lethargy. Haven't really established contact with anyone except Malar and Soap, minimally. Don't know why. I guess I'll figure it out.