Why we(Indians) gotta be so rude?

We, Indians, are rude to each other and that is a fact which we can deny, we can hide but we can't escape. Indians in India are rude to each other on a day to day basis. I am using the phrase 'Indians in India' on purpose based on my experiences. Apart from the fact that we all live in India, our rudeness has got nothing to do with our caste, age, gender, education level, or economic status.

Now, I am not saying that all of us are rude all the time. It's more like- some of us are rude all the time and all of us are rude at least some time and either way it bothers me. I want to share with you some examples of trivial day to day rudeness that bothers me and provoked me to write this post. I also want to tell you beforehand that on some of these occasions, I gratefully returned the rudeness parcel packaged in sarcasm and on other occasions I chose to let karma do its job. So in no way am I a victim or anything to the list of incidents below:

1. Went to a skin doctor with a bad rash and was advised about how all young working women should be learning to cook for themselves and their families because eating outside is dangerous - The fact that I can cook in five or more different cuisines didn't really matter to the doctor 
2. Went to another doctor in his clinic that he chose to keep open on 15th August (National Holiday in India) and got an earful about how educated people like us should respect doctor's private time and not visit on public holidays - The fact that he chose to keep the clinic open didn't matter. Before you conclude that I have something against doctors, please read on.
3. Was leaving office after a full day's work at 6 and a junior teammate had the nerve to tell me that I can conveniently leave on time coz I am a woman and the guys would fill in for me - The fact that he and I didn't share any work or that he was a junior didn't occur to him
4. Asked some stranger's driver to help change a flat tyre on my car and got an earful about how women shouldn't drive if they cannot repair basic car breakdowns - The fact that I had politely asked for help and that he proved to be useless in the situation didn't seem to matter.
5. Saw people deliberately ignore elderly people /pregnant women in clinics or public transport in order to not offer them seat - This one outrages me more than any other single incident
6. Saw people cutting through queues or at least trying to cut through by standing at the corner of counters - Because the others standing in queue obviously have way too much time at hand

And this behavioural pattern has come to be considered as acceptable in our country coz I don't see people objecting to it. It reflects on our attitude towards fellow humans and I don't even want to start about the issues we have with road rage!!

But to me it is unacceptable, and these incidents make me wonder 'WHY', why are we so rude?? We definitely have been taught better and there is nothing personal that we hold against each other. So there must be some reason for this behavior. In my attempt to calm down and justify this, I have come up with a few theories... tell me if you feel one of these is the reason:

1. Daily struggles of living in India - The small everyday problems of living amongst a billion plus people gets the better of us and we are a country living on the edge of patience or politeness.
2. Everyone has bad days - Everyday life brings in challenges and when you meet someone on a really challenging day, the person comes across as rude. If I go with this theory then all the incidents were just caused by 'bad days' these people were having.
3. Bad attitude towards women - one possible explanation for my experiences could be that women are subjected to free advice more coz "they need to be taught better" (rolling eyes). But this one doesn't explain the last two incidents.
4. Lack of empathy - We lack empathy as a general behavioural trait. While we are taught to respect and love from a young age, there isn't enough stress on empathising with fellow human beings. 

I lean towards the fourth explanation on most days. But on some days, I also think whether I am just overthinking these incidents. Do you think we are a lil rude?? And if you do, what do you think is the reason? Help me solve the mystery ;P

 Also, do you want to take any fun guesses on which incidents led me to strike the person back with sarcasm ??😈