Why do we find safety in numbers?

An observation I had while waiting at the international airport departure terminal in Bangalore.

Picture a 40,000 square feet departure lounge. Interspersed with a mix of cafes, restaurants and plenty of lounge chairs, sleeping pods and tables. The departure gates on their part are on the outer periphery of this massive waiting lounge.

As is my habit, I prefer to reach well before a scheduled departure time of a flight. Most times this results in me having additional time at the airport to well - lounge.

So I open up my laptop and get ready to type up a few blog posts. It's a Monday night (said to be the least busy of all nights at an international airport) and the lounge is sparsely populated. One can literally sit ANYWHERE and feel like one is lounging in one's own living room.

I type one paragraph, when I see a young lady, through a corner of my eye, scan the entire room. Mind you, there are only about seven or eight of us in this massive expansive room.

I am delighted about sitting where I am because I like the solitude and the ability to sit quietly and write in peace. But this sense of peace does not last long as I see the young lady dart towards me and sit two meters ahead of me, facing me, all the while continuing to speak on her phone and eat her sandwich at the same time.

She could have chosen to sit anywhere, yet she chose to sit in close proximity to where another person was sitting. I am at a loss for words and put it down to the fact that people safe around other people. That is perhaps what has given rise to the phrase ''Safety in Numbers''.