WORLD OF QUOTIENTS - A "BCD" STORY (08-May-2022)

Bangalore – I hail from this city.  The city with nicknames such as ‘Pensioner’s Paradise,’ ‘IT Capital,’ ‘Garden City,’ ‘Pub city,’ and many more has lost its charm.  This is true of most Indian cities, unfortunately.  Do we thank globalization, commercialization, growing pains, our politicians apathy, whatever?  This is the new norm that we accept with our heads down.  This write-up is from a couple of years ago but holds good even today!

A study then stated that Bangalore’s traffic-related accidents had reduced considerably.  The traffic department made a claim that it helped being pro-active and efficient.  A tricky proposition that raised doubts in my mind; my postulation goes thus…

A report stated that Bangalore residents have better DQ – Digestion Quotient!  Report highlighted the city residents are gastronomically initiated to a variety of cuisine and digest them compared to people in other Indian cities.  Be it the western-influenced fast-food diet or our own carbohydrate-rich food it has left behind an impression on one’s plate and palate – digested them all.  My grandma’s words “eat stones if you have to and digest them” comes alive in this situation.

A 2^nd report stated the residents of Bangalore consume (with respect to food) more per capita, a la CQ – Consumption Quotient!  I juxtaposed this with the 1^st report and realized that there is something ‘unique’ about our salubrious climate that ‘prime’ our digestive system.  It made me discuss with like-minded friends and deep-dive for better clarity.

A 3^rd  report caught me by surprise which made me sad.  It stated a higher incidence of back-related problems (BQ – Back Quotient) among Bangalore residents.  This got me thinking again; made me go back to my friends to discuss when we hit a common thread – a jaw-dropping theme!

Bangalore roads, filled with pot-holes with some tar in-between are true differentiators!

Bangalore is blessed with man-made unscientific humps knit in its hip with the natural potholes.  Humps and / or speed-breakers are created to reduce the speed of motor-vehicles plying on them.  It defies logic since a driver who climbs out of a pothole has to negotiate a series of designer humps.  An already reduced speed that mandate to manoeuvre around the rainwater-filled potholes, the drivers lose their balance and fall-off their vehicles!  If the four-wheelers are a generation or two older, they toss the driver and passengers off their seats to hurt their back – genesis of a plethora of back-related problems.

Theoretically a vehicle has to be in motion to meet with an accident; at almost zero speed there can be none!  Where lady-luck favoured the drivers, the throw from their seats (hump-pothole combination) has resulted in their digestive system getting a thorough upward-downward movement and help settle the food they have consumed.  Where the food settled down the digestion improved!  Since DQ has shown marked improvement people’s CQ have become better.  They are akin to the two sides of the same coin; one set suffers the BQ while the other set has improved CQ & DQ! 

Like ‘pyar ke side effects,’ Bangalore has ‘potholes ke good side effects!’  God bless Bangalore roads!