Choked and stuck - reflecting on Bryan Johnson's walkout
Summary
There’s nothing romantic about the average daily commute of the Indian tech worker. We breathe the worst air in the world and endure the most time in traffic, to the detriment of our health.
If I can recall something, it must be important—that mental blueprint underlies availability bias. Over the last week or so, the topics of air quality and pollution have been more available to me than otherwise. Barely a week back, anti-ageing influencer Bryan Johnson walked off an episode of one of India’s most popular podcasts, citing air-quality concerns. There’s been a firestorm of debate since, with Bryan himself putting out a call to action to clean up India’s air. First-world concerns, some may say.
Call it a coincidence, if you will, but on the same day the episode aired, I rode my motorbike to join my son at one of his chess competitions. The venue was 35 km away, which by global standards could feel 100km away. For one, commuting to the venue on the Mumbai-Bangalore, which has no traffic rules, none that anyone follows, felt like an adventure sport. I had my heart in my mouth for most of the ride. More importantly, though, I could feel the air quality. Or, let’s just say, the lack of it. Anyone who gets out on the road in India knows this - the particulate matter is no laughing matter.
I’d only planned to join my son for lunch, but as it turned out, I stayed till the end of the tournament. While returning home, my ride was worse. I came in wearing my sunglasses, and I hadn’t brought my glasses. The dust and particulate matter kept thudding into my eyes all through my ride back home.
Twelve years ago, I bought my motorcycle for the joy of riding. But after this trip, joy is the last thing I associate with it. Commuting in Indian cities isn’t just stressful—it’s hazardous. And yet, I’m one of the lucky ones. I don’t have to do this every day. At least, not yet.
But for thousands of Indian tech workers, this daily battle with pollution, dust, and chaos isn’t optional. Many are already back in the office for a few days each week, and many endure five-day commutes, whether they like it or not.
It made me wonder what the impact of return-to-office policies on Indian workers is. Well, I did some research, and the data paints a grim picture. This is data that no remote-work guru or advocate tells us about because they’re too busy with their first-world narratives. This is a story that the bosses don’t tell because it doesn’t suit their three Cs; creativity, culture, camaraderie, narrative for return-to-office drives. But this is an essential picture because it affects 15% of the world’s tech workforce. First, a few interesting data points.
Delhi has 2x San Francisco’s tech workers, 10x worse air quality and a 6x worse traffic rank.
Bangalore has 6x NYC’s tech workers, 5.6x worse air quality and a 17x worse traffic rank.
Pune has 4x Chicago’s tech workers, 3x worse air quality and a 17x worse traffic rank.
Here’s a graph that brings it all together. You can download an image here. (the chart below works best on a desktop)
The x-axis plots the PM 2.5 levels of each city. This data is publicly available.
The y-axis plots commute times per 10km. This data is from Tom Tom.
The bubble size indicates the number of tech workers in that city.
Indian cities (in orange) have the most tech workers who suffer the most from a gruelling commute. Let it suffice to say that even if Andy Jassy (for example) goes to his office every day, he doesn’t breathe the same fumes for as long as his Indian colleagues do. Short of leaving their jobs, Indian workers can’t politely walk out as Bryan Johnson did. Yes, these workers are privileged compared to many frontline workers who don’t have the theoretical option to work remotely. When you compare them to their global north counterparts, however, they suffer the worst work conditions - bosses with a feudal mindset, no collective bargaining powers, and the worst health impacts for simply maintaining their employment.
With the inane calls for the 70-hour and 90-hour work week, a simple, calm 40-hour week seems like a luxury in corporate India today. In such times, I wonder if anyone will ever highlight the actual physical and mental health impacts that the combination of poor air quality and long commutes impose on Indian tech workers. The global north doesn’t care - to them, we’re cyber coolies. And global south leaders are too busy outgunning each other for the number of hours they’d like their minions to work.
Meanwhile, I offer this post in solidarity with my industry colleagues who breathe toxic fumes daily so their companies can have creativity, culture, and camaraderie. Creativity for which we have no data, but we do have watercoolers. Culture - a concept that flexes to the will of the bosses. Camaraderie that feels good only until the next round of layoffs. Pardon me if my sense of positivity mirrors India’s air quality.