I was casually asking a JCO from my regiment about his post retirement plans (for non-army types, a Junior Commisioned Officer is only junior in rank but very senior in age and service.) His answer was simple, ‘ kya karna hai saab, kaafi naukri kar lia, abhi ghar rahenge, makaan hai, khet hai.’ I knew he had no huge land holdings and that he had three young children to bring up. I liked his optimism, considering the professional advice one gets these days on finances; something like 60 lakhs for children’s education in 2020, 80 lakhs for children’s marriage in 2025 and a pension corpus of 2.5 crores in 2028 and so on.
What about health insurance, I asked. ‘Hamen bazaar men thodi rahna hai saab, gaon men rahenge.’ I was still trying to make a connection, when he elaborated ,’saab, bimaari to bread khaane wale, shahar men rahne walon ko hoti hai. Hum to gaon men rahnewale, aur roti khane wale hain’ . Seeing me not very convinced, he went on ” Saab petrol gaadi men deezal dalega , tabi to bimaari hoga na ? Socho ”
That “socho” set me thinking; may be he has a point there.
But people today can’t imagine having daal roti or daal chawal day after day, even if topped up with dollups of ghee or spices. One has to have Continental, pizza, burger, Chinese, Thai not to mention South Indian (I have stopped counting the sign boards , on the wrong side of Vindhyas, announcing “Indian, Chinese and South Indian” cuisine)
What if automobiles start demanding variety fuel not based on some design but prompted by a connoisseur’s tongue and an elastic fuel tank.
- there would be a great market for variety of fuels.
- we may have vitamin supplements and herbal supplements(for nature lovers) added to fuel to offset the effect of tasty fuels.
- auto garages and vehicle insurers will make make more money than hospitals and health insurance companies.
- Traffic police will have to check not just the drivers , but also automobiles for drunken driving.
- when fuel is tasty, tanks would be filled to bursting point and tanks would be left shrunken when the fuel lacks variety and is not so tasty.
But then, to get back to the world of human beings, when eating habits get too precise like Dr Sheldon Cooper’s, it does look more like refueling rather than dining.
Some food for thought.