Bang! Bang! Bang! It's been almost a year since we began on this note. We criticized the roads, traffic, city cops, people, places, pollution, the easy ways of 'nurturing' the 'Garden City' and almost every conceivable thing that you could find fault with. We talked of stray dogs, the plights of our farmers, even the laid back attitude of the people of Bangalore. A long year indeed!! What do we rant about now?

I want to believe that people of Bangalore are more street-savvy than their counterparts in other cities of India. But this is what I have to ask. Are Bangaloreans dumb or plain pretending to be?

A sale at Safina Plaza goes like this: Buy three items to avail a 50% discount on the lowest priced item. Now, this beats all logic out of me. Did they expect people to buy 3 (not 1, mind you!) items with exorbitant prices just to avail this 50% discount? I looked to see if people entered that showroom and by Jove, they did!! For a second, I doubted my comprehension skills. I reconfirmed with the salesman that what I understood was right. I came away pretty disappointed that people were so naïve in believing that the sale did them a world of good.

Then, at a shopping mall, there was this 'game' which said "Rs. 10 per token". One had to stop the button at a number between 995- 1002 to win a small stuffed toy or win a watch by stopping at 1000. All that a customer was instructed casually was that one had to start the game by inserting 2 coins. He made three attempts. When it was time to pay up Rs.60 did he realize what a fool he had made out of himself. He demanded an explanation from the guy as to why he had to pay this amount for which he confidently pointed out to the written tag that said "Rs.10 per token". This customer wasn't convinced until it dawned on him that it needed 2 coins to start the game.

I could see that he felt like a real idiot for having overlooked that detail. Instead, that small figure tempted him to try thrice. He was of course infuriated and ended up asking the guy to change the instruction to: "Rs.10 per token but 2 tokens to start the game."

I guess it was the 'disease of familiarity' that most people suffer from that leads to poor understanding of instructions in public places. He took comfort in the fact that there were others who got carried away just like him. Were Bangaloreans ever thought of to be smart? That he lost in all the three attempts is another issue!!

Please send in your views at the Banging it Out Board on the Communiqué.