I went to a toy shop to buy a gift for my friend's daughter on her birthday. There, while searching for the right gift, I overheard the discussion between a parent and his eight year old son, who also came to buy a gift for the young boy's birthday. Father wanted to buy a helicopter worth Rs.200/- and the son also wanted a helicopter but that can fly with remote control, which will cost Rs.2,150/-. Father tried to convince the boy to buy Rs.200/- helicopter but son is interested only in the one that can fly. This went on for few minutes and I was listening. Then father explained to the son that buying helicopter with Rs.2,150/- is way beyond his capacity. If he has to buy that one, he will have to borrow money from someone and repay them every month with some interest, which will increase the burden and make less money available to the family for few months. They will have to cut some expenses, including the boy's pocket money. Instead if they buy the helicopter with Rs.200/- now, then they can save money, saved money grows over time and over a period of time they will be able to buy the helicopter that can fly with remote control and they can even buy a real helicopter, that the boy can fly. The son immediately accepted to buy a smaller helicopter than the one father wanted to buy. I don't know how much the boy understood or what appealed to him, still father accomplished the task.
When a head of the family can think that way, I really don't understand why the heads of the country don't. For many years, the major hindrance the country is facing is Crude Oil, and its the one thing that is derailing our economy year after year, decelarating the growth rate. I am not an economist, statistician or politician, but just a common man. I read in newspapers the efforts and time spent by the Prime Minister and his colleagues in keeping the prices of Petrol, Diesel, Gas or kerosene down . Opposition parties continuously indulge in criticising the government for it's failure to maintain the growth rate or cry foul when there is a price hike. But no where I see an effort from anyone to acknowledge the fact that Oil is one commodity that our country can't afford to buy as much as we want or try and convince people that reduced consumption will lead to saving precious foreign exchange that will ultimately improve growth rate. As a common man, I feel reduction in the consumption of oil is the only solution to this humungous problem. A difficult task yes, but not impossible. And if we are able to reduce the consumption by at least 1%, it shall be a great achievement. I don't know when our leaders will get this.
As for me, I have decided to stop using my vehicle for one day in a week. Not that it's going to make any difference to the country, but what else can I do. As already told you, I am just a common man, a stupid common man.
