Crowds with a stick

This has been going on for a while I guess, but I’d noticed it last year only among teenagers and movie stars. Now it has started creeping up the food chain. All the places which used to be called "scenic spots" are blighted by hordes of selfie shooters. This being India, a selfie is not complete without the whole neighbourhood. I’m tempted to join one of these selfie groups and smile at the camera. Will they notice a stranger grinning at the edge of the group? The alternative is to have the kind of visceral reaction which you see on the face of the guy moving out of the frame.

China is also full of people deploying selfie sticks at every place where tourists may go. You see a typical Chinese selfie being taken in the photo here: it is completely individual. The Indian selfie is much more communal. What does that tell us about the two countries?