When you're late for work on the Delhi metro

It's 9:30 am and we're at the Saket Metro. Things are quite tense here. Queues are long, the humidity intolerable, and the people even more so. We shout at each other for breaking the queue, for getting too close, for being too slow. In our anger, frustration, despair, it feels like we’re all saying the same thing: “I'm already suffering. Please don’t make it worse.”

When I think of collective joy, my mind goes to the 2011 Cricket World Cup: Dhoni’s six to finish it in style. When I think of collective despair, I imagine Saket Metro at 9:30, filled with those of us who are already late, who are preparing themselves for judgemental glares, who are on the back-foot before their day even begins.

In our anger, frustration, despair, it feels like we’re all saying the same thing: “I'm already suffering. Please don’t make it worse.”

If a researcher wanted to understand how certain HR policies affect human behaviour, a metro station in the morning offers a fabulous destination. You could stand there with a notepad and stop every young person running to the train and ask “Could you explain to me why you’re running?”