A cognitive researcher, is what he calls himself.
"I tell people things they really don't care much about".
Bunty Pasricha can hold fort on an amazing range of topics. On the day, he chose one that had caught his fancy currently.
"Ever wondered why people pay a premium for outward facing balconies?"
"They made sense at a time when they opened out into lush green views or water-bodies or even into general nothingness. Not when the sight that greets you is the neighbour's underwear dangling from his clothesline on his balcony. Or wires dangling from electricity poles - which are the 'views'we get today. We however, have been conditioned by advertisements and the Joneses, continuing to pay extra for frills that don't serve any real purpose".
This, however, is the smaller problem, because "metaphorically, outward-facing balconies represent turning our backs to each other. We really shouldn't be surprised when people live in flats for years together not knowing their neighbours" he added
"Think about it. With inward-facing balconies, you'd go to hang your clothes to dry at least once every two weeks and chances are you'll catch your neighbour doing the same thing once in a while,establishing familiarity. Besides, the quadrangle down below makes for the children's play-area which a parent can keep a watch over, from the balcony. It makes for more secure architecture"
Japanese expats in India, apparently, ferret out residences with inner-facing balconies. Unfortunately, there aren't too many of these.
This sounded like commonsense. Why wasn't he pitching it to builders?
He had. In fact, he'd spoken to Hafeez Contractor, no less, just the week before we'd had our conversation.
"But then, I''m not sure I should've told him what a cognitive researcher does "
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