I think that crowding and lack of elbow room are a defining feature of Asian daily life, regardless of whether in the city or sticks. Actions such as running into people or stopping dead or doing an abrupt about face and slamming into the person behind you (as if in a city of millions that the notion of there being someone behind you is incomprehensible) are commonplace.    While I can't speak for Eastern Europe, these sorts of things would definitely cause an altercation where I come from. Just goes to show that in Asian societies that there is no concept of the other person, and that everything is relative to your relationship with the object of your behavior.    As another poster said, only 1.1 billion to go. Indians are one group that I especially dislike, so I'm glad to see that their stupidity has proved fatal yet again, and en masse.