Back How to beat the petrol price hike?
D. Murali
FUEL prices are soaring like nobody's business, and so it has become almost everybody's business to understand why the numbers on the pump display panel change faster than you can say `pet-rol.' For those who feel they're left holding the empty can, here's some help.
Isn't it crude?
True, it's crude that's responsible for the crude mess we're in. Crude prices have been too rude to us and making import bills bloat. To make things cruder, our oil companies have a formula that always spits out a higher price whenever they press the `recalc' button. The word is from Latin crudus, meaning `raw, rough, cruel,' so you can't complain that they're being cruel towards you at the bunk! Crude also means vulgar or obscene, so desist from any crude gesture there.
How to save petrol?
What a dumb question! Best idea to save is what everybody knows — just don't start the vehicle. Clean it, wipe it, cover it and even claim the vehicle allowance that your office gives you, but don't start it. Or, even if you turn on the ignition to keep the battery okay, do it for the minimum duration, which perhaps the car manual states as 2 or 3 minutes.
Any advice on how to fill petrol?
When resources become scarce, you need to change the tools. For instance, when water is in shortage, we stop using taps and shower, switching over to mugs and tumblers, instead. Similarly, it is advisable not to take the vehicle to petrol bunks as long as they don't dispense with the hoses for dispensing fuel. Buy it in one-litre plastic bottles with tight caps because you can't afford any evaporation. Whenever your fuel gauge shows empty, administer fuel into the tank, using ink-fillers or eyedroppers, and you'd notice that your fuel bill drops down heavily.
I have this tendency to offer lifts to my guests.
It's a common phenomenon that one likes to take the guests to the nearest bus-stop, either to show off one's gaadi or to quickly rid them from the house. Before you indulge in such an extravaganza, look at the costs and benefits. A common ploy is to offer them a ride but feign searching for the keys indefinitely, if your ego doesn't permit saying that the car is kaput. There are sadists, I hear, who get their guests, or a few of them, to push the car for quite some distance before condescending to start the vehicle as a small mercy.
Can I use my bike as a fitness tool?
Great! How's that I never thought about it? Combine your walk-and-workout with commuting and push the bike all the way to office. Which means there will be fewer people on the beach in the mornings, and more people walking their two-wheelers on pedestrian passages. Paradoxically, you may end up saving time two ways: One, by not going for usual walks, and two, by reaching office earlier than the others who are caught up in endless traffic jams in the regular carriage way. Do I hear somebody suggesting how such wheel-walking can be made enjoyable by removing heavier parts such as the engine from the bike to make it lighter?
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