In most of our vertical cities, we are condemned to use the lift at least four times in a day. It begins with getting out of the apartment and coming down to earth and the second use could possibly be when you go up to your ivory tower cubicle or work desk. A third occasion is when the lift hurls you down at the end of your workday from your ivory tower to join the multitude of tired souls trudging back home. And if you are a homing bird the fourth occasion is when the lift encapsulated you and delivers you back to your cocoon your home. Of course, there are people who do not use the elevators even once a day and also those whose usage far exceed the four occasions described above.
I have started noticing the 'lift culture' and I can see it is very telling on the location, time of the day and of course nature of users.
let us look at the 'waiting for the lift' stage. The current generation of potential spondylitis patients that we are, we tend to avoid eye-contact with fellow travelers and busy ourselves with our phones or similar devices. Everyone has their head bent at an awkward angle and eyes squinting at the bright screens of their phones. While most may not have a new message or mail to read, they still do this to avoid any social contact of the brick and mortar, or should I say 'flesh and bone' kind. Then there is always the risk of awkward incidents such as opening up an audio or video which are private in nature. People also use this as an opportunity to show off the devices they possess.
Although eye contact with fellow travelers is avoided, everyone keeps out a surreptitious look for the next lift arriving. There will also be some stealthy moves being made towards the next arrival. Invariably you will find a habitual offender rushing in from nowhere to take up the most vantage access point. These late comers have perfected the art of looking busy, important and most of all the 'I was always here' look.
Reverse engineers are another category of lift users that one comes across. This tribe will take the lift going to the basement to actually go up to a higher floor. They are the ones who have used the local trains in Mumbai - where you travel back to Churchgate in order to go to Borivli! They beat the crowd and probably lose a few precious seconds of their lives.
At any and sometimes every floor one comes across the lost souls. The lost souls are the directionless ones who have this perpetual question for the lift traveler when the door opens - " going down?" The indicator outside can flash the brightest colours but these Columbuses will only be satisfied if an inmate answers that the lift is indeed traveling sideways.
The 'button pushers' are another category of panicky travelers. They have a strong belief that the more number of times you push the button the faster the lift travels or arrives. Once they get into the lift they will push the button to close the doors, they do not believe that the door will automatically close and also they do not want anyone else to get in.
The 'blockers' are the category that has just come off the soccer field or the basket ball court. They prefer to travel with a lot of elbow space and leg room. Once they enter the lift, they get rooted at the entrance to ensure nobody else gets in. They run the occupational hazard of getting tackled by the latecomers (described elsewhere).
Finally we have the lift lovers, they leave the lift very reluctantly at their destination. They continue the conversation with fellow travelers, who still have floors to go, holding the door open with total disregard for other passengers.
