The chaotic morning of 4th December wasn’t anything out of ordinary for the Gupta household. The pressure cooker whistled in the kitchen forgotten as the mother argued with the maid, the kids busy playing odd even while waiting for breakfast, news running on the loudest volume and Mr. Gupta murmuring an old hindi song while he got ready to leave for office. It was chaos but this was a regular scene at the house, an “aam aadmi’s” house. Mr. Gupta always big on saving, both the environment and money, usually car pooled with his mates from office and each took turns driving. It was convenient and cut costs.
But this morning, he was running late and then came the salt to the wound; the dreadful news that cut short his melody. Inspired by the foreign nations, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has decided to impose the odd even number regulations on cars. Stumped by the news, and with the kids busy playing odd eve in one corner, Mr. Gupta couldn’t help but compare the two- the game and the absurd rule. It was funny but then the news settled in and brought along questions. Now if this rule were to be applied, then he won’t be able to drive to office Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays since all his carpool mates had even numbered plates, including him. This spelled trouble. And it made him think,had he listened to his wife’s numerologist and got a number plate ending in 5 he would have been better off. Maybe numerology is important and stars do align our fate. The ringing of a phone broke his stream of thoughts. He didn’t have time for this, he was already running late.
Over the day, it was a hot topic at the office. Many jokes were shared and opinions discussed. But everyone agreed, if followed it might just be good for the environment. And how bad could it be to not drive your cars three days a week. One could always take the metro or bus. It would also mean lesser monthly expenditure on petrol and with the prices shooting for the skies, it was a godsend angel in disguise. Maybe odd even doesn’t have to be a concept of math; just maybe it could be a way of living. Especially when it could help us sustain the resources we are gifted with. Also, the prospect of saving on petrol sounded too good to Mr. Gupta for him to criticize Kejriwal. But he had to agree, the memes were god damn funny xD.
