💬 Stayed calm in a 2 hour queue, then they wanted one more photocopy

Aadhaar update centre in Himayatnagar, last Tuesday, token number 148. They were serving 61. I looked at the board and understood my whole morning. 87 people. 1 counter. The man ahead of me started sighing at around the 20 minute mark. Loudly, every minute. A woman behind me called the staff useless. A guy near the door left and came back. Normally I'm the one sighing. I'm the loudest. I've been asked to calm down by strangers. That day I just put in my earphones and looked at the ceiling fan. Counted its blades. Then counted how many times it squeaked per minute. 11. I'm serious. It's a strange thing but it made the time go. I didn't check my phone once. When my turn came, the woman at the counter looked at me properly for the first time. She said, you've been very patient. I said, I counted your fan. She laughed. The whole line before me had been shouting at her. Nobody had said a word of kindness. She typed fast. Everything was going well. I felt like a new person. Then she asked for a photocopy of my old card. I'd left it in the bike bag. The bike was parked 400 metres away and the centre was closing in 40 minutes. She said, no problem, come back tomorrow, token 1. I'd wasted the whole calm for nothing. Went back next day at 9. Waited 25 minutes. I counted the fan again. 11.

Token 148 while they were serving 61, I would have lost my mind. Counting fan blades is a skill. At a passport office in Secunderabad I once brought a book and finished 40 pages, while the man next to me kept checking the clock. One more photocopy at the end is the real final boss. Did you have to run to a shop outside?

Counting the fan blades is funny, but I'd have gone mad at token 148. I'm usually the loud one.