Lateness as a national character

I was asked to conduct Viva-voce for Practical examinations (yesterday and today) at Jamia Millia Islamia. The examinations were to start at 9am and as I was clueless about the location, I took a taxi. Given the state of the Delhi Roads, I left home at around 8.15 am and surprisingly, I was at Jamia at 8.45 am.
The laboratories were closed. The office was closed. No faculty was present. Only the students were loitering in the corridors, mugging hard.
I waited. And I waited. And I waited.
Finally, I saw a laboratory personnel and I asked him about the examination. He took me to the right laboratory where there were some more staff. They all asked me to be seated and assured me the faculty will be there very soon. The chief of the laboratory staff took his cell phone out and started frantically calling the faculty concerned.
The lowest pecking order, the lecturer, arrived finally at 9.15am. The examination started at 9.30am. The reader, or the middle pecking order, arrived at 9.30am. The Head of the Department arrived at 11.00 am.
Today I knew better. Or rather I thought I knew better. I went in to the lab exactly at 9 am. The Head of Department dropped in around 9.45am and asked me:
"You came early today also?"
No wonder the students, when they come to my classes get the shock of their life, when I refuse to let them into the classrooms if they arrive more than 5 minutes late. Not that it makes any difference to them. They go blithely through their life disregarding any respect for time.