Let's pretend there's pandemic called traffic: Bengaluru commuters' viral plea to work from home is viral

Bengaluru Traffic: When traffic signals feel longer than your work calls, you know it’s a Bengaluru Monday. Dilip Kumar, a Bengaluru entrepreneur, summed up what countless officegoers feel but rarely say out loud while inching forward on Outer Ring Road or Silk Board on a Monday morning.  

After being stuck for over two hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic, he took to X to vent “Why can’t we pretend there is a pandemic and it’s called road traffic, and go back to working from home and doing online meetings? It’s painful to get stuck for 2 hrs on a Monday morning and act enthusiastic. There is no medicine for the stress from Bangalore traffic.” 

If you’ve ever started your day with a motivational podcast in your car and ended it cursing potholes before even reaching the office, you’d understand why this post is striking a chord.   

Netizens nod in tired agreement

The post unleashed a flood of reactions from other Bengaluru commuters, tired of draining their energy just to reach work.

“Please explain this to corporates and startups. My ex-colleague used to say people who WFH never work, but sitting in traffic isn’t work either,” one user pointed out.

Another user added, “Absolutely! It affects the entire day. People with motion sickness or who drive end up starting late, which stretches their day and affects health. This is why we went fully remote, and our team loves it.”

Others shared their own “commute horror stories,” with one user writing, “All the energy is gone while commuting. At work, all you think about is getting back home.”

One Bengaluru resident added, “It’s five days of commuting in my company. If you’re aging, it’s tough to cope with the stress. You have to crawl your vehicle forward without touching anyone else’s bumper, it’s a stress of a different kind.” 

While Bengaluru’s traffic congestion remains infamous globally, this post has reignited the conversation about flexible work models, the mental toll of daily travel, and why hybrid systems might be more of a necessity than a perk in cities like Bengaluru.

The Bengaluru traffic pandemic that never ends

Bengaluru’s traffic congestion consistently ranks among the worst globally, with the city’s infrastructure struggling to keep up with its booming growth. Peak hour crawls, unpredictable jams, pothole-riddled roads, and a lack of last-mile connectivity turn daily commutes into endurance tests. As the city dreams of becoming India’s Silicon Valley, its roads often remind residents that innovation doesn’t move as fast as the traffic lights turn green to red.

Because when it comes to Bengaluru, the real “daily standup” happens at the traffic signal, and maybe, just maybe, the kindest thing companies can do is let people skip that meeting.

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