Endless fuel queues

This Wednesday morning, having completed business at my bank along Flower Road, and not finding it easy to get transport, I decided to walk home, at Kanatte, off Bauddhaloka Mawatha.(With apologies to Wordsworth:)

“I wandered lonely as a cloud,

past the country’s school number two, towards Maitland Crescent,

when all at once, I came upon a crowd,

a host of gleaming vehicles, beside the road, beneath the trees,

parked perfectly still in the gentle breeze.

Bumper to bumper, they stretched in never-ending line,

along the margin of the highway.

Thousands I saw at a glance,

getting baked in the noonday sun.

A man could not be but saddened,

witnessing such a wasteful pastime.

I gazed- and gazed, but little thought,

what depression the show had brought to me”!

I had to ask myself where on earth those people wanted to go in these hard times, when they got their petrol. Can’t we just leave our vehicles at home for a month, just one month, and use another mode of transport? Then perhaps fuel could be channelled to a more efficient public transport system?

Walking along the SSC grounds, I spotted a gleaming Jaguar in the queue, and my curiosity was further kindled. I approached the driver who was happily passing a fag among two of his colleagues. Our conversation went something like this.

Petrol nedda me jaguar ekata? (Isn’t there enough petrol in the car?)

Driver: Half tank thiyanawa sir, ewunata boss kiwwa thawa gahaganda kiyala. Api Sanduda ude awe, ada re wenakota hathdahaka ganda puluwan. (Half a tank is there, but the boss wants some more. We joined the queue on Sunday, and could get 7000 worth petrol tonight.)

Kageda me car eka? (Who is the owner of this car?)

Driver: Meka avilla sir, company director mahaththayekge. (A company director.)

Ithin me dawaswalawath podi vahanyak pawichchi karanna berida? (Can’t a smaller vehicle be used, even on these days?)

driver: Eka thami sir mammath bossta kiwwe, monawa karannada sir, api ithin kiyana de karranda epai? (That’s exactly what I told my boss, but I have to do as I am told.)

The sad story of our lives! The man has more sense than his boss, who just won’t listen!

When are we ever going to get it into our heads that we are a third world economy, and cannot expect to lead a first world life?

Nothing will change unless we change ourselves!

Dr. N. J-Consultant Physician