The subway syndrome

In some parts of Chennai, crossing the road is as difficult as climbing Mount Everest in winter without a winter jacket. All sorts of obstacles such as cycle, bike, Mercedes, Maruthi, MTC bus, stray dogs, and buffalos travel in all directions around you. One has to scan 360 degrees to ensure that none of the demons is in the way while crossing. Road signals do not encourage pedestrians to cross the road, by setting a few seconds for this activity. Crossing the road in developed countries such as UK is a piece of cake. It is as easy as sleeping on a cosy couch in an air conditioned room. Crossing the road in Chennai is like sleeping in a room with four starved lions. One has to be very careful all the time. Otherwise the demon comes and bites you when least expected. From any direction.

So, what is the remedy? The government came up with two solutions to tackle this problem. The subways and the foot bridges. Both of them can be seen in many parts of the city. The basic difference between these two 'road-crossing' helpers is that foot bridges are above ground while the subways are underground.

Almost all the subways give part time vendors perfect place to sell their articles and full time spitters to spit thoroughly chewed pan dissolved in saliva all over the place. At times, it looks like a modern art on the wall they spit at. In the night time, it presents the perfect place for crimes. Even though vendors take 25% for the place to sell their goods and spitters take another 25% of the place to spit stinky red juice, the subways are run-away hits in almost all places. The foot bridges, which hardly host any vendors, are a huge failure. Since less number of humans uses the foot bridges, the red-art along the wall is also less.

A prime example for a fully activated subway is the one opposite to the central railway station. It is always full of activities. Traffic in Haddows road and Nungambakkam high road are as heavy as the road near central railway station. But, the foot bridges over haddows road and Nungambakkam high road are ignored. One can find people risking their life by running along the road rather than using the foot bridge. Both foot bridges and subways are built for the same purpose. One is unhealthy, unsafe and congested but it is a huge hit. So, why is this subway a massive hit even though it has its drawbacks?

In both the cases, people have to climb up a few steps and climb down a few steps. The energy spent in both the cases are roughly the same. But the major difference between the two is that in a subway, one has to go down first and then climb up. People, in general think only about the immediate activity. They fail to get the wholistic picture in mind. In this case, it is simple that the person who climbs down the stairs has to climb up to reach the same level. But, the 'climbing up' part is never in his mind initially. This, I call it as 'Subway syndrome'. People like to do the easier things first while not worrying about its consequences. When this theory is applied to foot bridges, people think that climbing up the stairs is a tedious task. But the same person is ready to climb up after climbing down the stairs in a subway though!

The subway syndrome is not just applied to the subways alone. It can be applied to many day to day activities. Some businesses have used this syndrome to increase their profits and sales. All the credit card companies / financial institutions have taken advantage. Using a credit card to pay for a bill is the easier bit and repaying the money is the tougher bit. The credit card company clearly knows that people don’t think about repaying at the time of purchase. These financial companies are very good in showing the people the way to climb down the subway steps and stand on their throat while climbing up.

The modern way of doing business follows this flow. Carrots are initially thrown at the bunny. Attracted and lured by the carrots, the bunnies come running without thinking of any other consequence. Only when the bunny gets the carrot, it realises that it has fallen into a trap.

But, only the bunnies affected by the 'Subway syndrome' fall for it.