Rage rooms should be a smash hit

Although the appearance of anger rooms abroad had been communicated to the Indian public by the media a few years ago, they do not seem to have become as much of a smash hit here as they have in the west. Indeed, after the series of recent shock electoral outcomes, a further increase in demand for 'smash shacks' — where spleen can be vented for $20 upwards, with specific targets or implements attracting supplemental charges — is very probable. India, however, seems to still prefer more traditional targets for pent-up angst: buses, police vehicles, fenestrations, furniture, even animals or the nearest vulnerable human beings. Yet, the attractions of controlled vent rooms are manifest, and the benefits go beyond the purely commercial. Not only are the startup costs obviously minimal, such customised spaces provide "safe" outlets for frustrations, and they put to use all manner of discarded but still intact — and, therefore, breakable — items.

Availability of such enclosed arenas for people to expend destructive urges would also save civic authorities considerable man-hours of crowd control, not to mention the cost of repairing or replacing damaged public property. They would also take the pressure off the other favoured spaces for temper tantrums and passive-aggressive urges: social media and prime-time television.