Need destruction therapy? Head for Rage Room, the latest rage in Bengaluru

Remember that scene in Life In A Metro where Irrfan Khan’s Monty takes Konkona Sen Sharma’s Shruti to the rooftop and tells her to scream her lungs out to release her pent-up frustration? How many times have you felt like doing the same? Or hurl something to the floor or smash an object on the wall? If you are in Bengaluru, you can do all these simply by paying a visit to Rage Room and save your mobile phone from being destroyed yet again!

What is Rage Room?

The idea of a rage room or anger room is to allow people to take out their frustration and fury safely on inanimate objects in a manner they won’t regret later. It is called destruction therapy and it can be cathartic. Bengaluru’s Rage Room is not India’s first such facility, though. There is already a Breakroom in Gurgaon and a Café Bhadaas in Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The latter also serves mouth-watering food, just in case you feel pangs of hunger after you are done with anger management.

There is a variety of things to destroy in Bengaluru’s Rage Room and other such facilities. From small and relatively inexpensive items like thermocol sheets, plastic containers, tube lights, and wooden and metal objects to the more expensive chairs, tables, and electronics like televisions, refrigerators, and washing machines — you can break them all in Rage Room, though the cost of your “therapy” will depend on what all you choose to destroy.

The stages of destruction range from Seed (10 minutes) to the 30-minute Tree, with the 20-minute Shoot and 30-minute Sapling stages in between. Each stage has a solo and a couple option. Prices range from Rs 299 (solo Seed) to Rs 3599 (couple Tree). You also get a Rs-99 five-minute trial pack. However, you have to be at least 18 to use the facility.

How Rage Room started

Rage Room in Bengaluru’s Basavanagudi area opened on February 4 this year. It is the brainchild of Ananya Shetty, 23-year-old digital marketer from IIM Madras. She told Times Now in an interview that the idea stemmed from her own experience. When she looked for such facilities in Bengaluru, she realised there weren’t any, and the tech city with its young population needed one. She was right, because on the second day itself, Rage Room was fully booked.

Also read: 3 bodies, one pattern: Is a serial killer on the prowl in Bengaluru?

Rage rooms are becoming quite the rage in India now, though they are not an original Indian concept. According to the Rage Room website, these facilities — called “susuji karuta” or “textile ripping” locally — first emerged in Japan in the early 2000s. From there, the idea spread to Europe and the US and Canada by the end of that decade and into the next.

Now, they are extremely popular in North America especially, with even therapists recommending it as part of treatment. Not only does it ensure the safety of other people but also of the person who is using the facility because they must put on protective gear before going on the destructive spree!

Does it help?

And if you are wondering if it really helps, well, yes, it does. Experts believe letting out the pent-up anger may clear the clutter from your head and help you think things through. At the least, you can accept the things you cannot change. Even better, when you can think with a clear head, you may come up solutions or even realise that the situation is not as bad you were believing it to be.

So, if you live in Bengaluru (or Gurugram or Indore) and feel like yelling at people or smashing things or resorting to other destructive behaviour, just keep your cool for a few more hours and book an appointment at Rage Room (or its cousin in other cities). Take it out safely.