The Good Indian's Guide to Queue-jumping

Lessons in Getting Ahead

A wise man once said that half of life is showing up -- and the other half is waiting in line. In a nation of a billion people, there's no escaping queues. We find ourselves in one every day -- whether to board a flight, for a darshan at Tirupati or, if we are less fortunate, to fetch water from municipal taps. We no longer wait for years for a Fiat car or a rotary-dial phone, but there are still queues that may last days, like those for school admissions. And then ...