Let us Even out the Odds this April

Now that 1st of April is behind us and enough number of people have been fooled, let us look forward. Come 15th of April and Delhi will be back with its Odd and Even Scheme. 

Now before I dwell any further, let me give a quick update to all those who are reading this blog but do not belong to Delhi or India. Delhi was the first city in India that tried an experiment in January 2016 of implementing the rule of Odd and Even for its automobiles in the city. This Odd and Even Rule has been implemented in the past in many cities of the world like Shanghai, Beijing, Paris, Mexico etc. and each has seen its own set of challenges while implementing such a rule. 

The way the Odd and Even scheme works is that on the odd numbered dates, only the cars bearing odd license numbers can bring their cars out on the roads and the even numbered cars have to stay in, and the reverse thing works during the even numbered dates. Let me clarify this:

So if the date is 2nd April, 4th April, 16th April or any other even date, then you can only bring your car on the road if your license plate number ends with an even number. Similarly, when the date is an odd number like 3rd April, 7th April or 21st April, you have to keep your even numbered cars inside and bring out the odd numbered cars. 

When this scheme was announced in Dec’15 for its implementation in Jan’16, people made a big hue and cry about it and the media as well as social media didn’t wait a minute in lampooning the idea and suggestion of the Delhi Chief Minister – Arvind Kejriwal. There were memes and jokes floating around and everyone had predicted the failure of such a scheme in Delhi. But the Government went ahead with its implementation, and the perspective and opinion of people changed after seeing the positive impact that this scheme had in reducing the number of cars on the road and thereby the travel time for each person. It is debatable that to what extent this scheme led to the reduction in pollution levels, which was the moot cause why this scheme was announced, but the effects on traffic reduction were evident clearly. 

Now such a scheme clearly has its drawbacks and disadvantages too, like:

1. The public transport system in Delhi is still not upto the mark, so how does one travel on days when one cannot take out his or her car. Should people bear the brunt of over-crowded Metros, over-charging autos, and over-speeding buses for 15 days?

2. Not everyone in Delhi has an even numbered and an odd numbered car and people are not willing to take the public transport, which is crowded and infrequent. 

3. If one has a driver with only one car, will that person now pay the driver for only 15 days? No driver will accept a cut in his salary just because the Government is not allowing cars to ply on the roads on certain days. 

Keeping the drawbacks aside, it is quite clear that reducing the number of cars on the roads of Delhi NCR is an imperative that cannot be pushed any further. So here is an alternative solution that I want to propose, which could possibly overcome some of the drawbacks highlighted above. 

What if we bring in a scheme called ‘Is it your Car’s Date Today?’. The biggest benefit of this scheme that I propose is that no car will be off the road for more than 4 days at the maximum. This means that the citizens would be happy to participate and not face the burden of an Odd-Even scheme. 

So what does this ‘Is it your Car’s Date Today’ scheme entail?

What this means is that if your car number matches the last digit of the calendar date, then your car shouldn’t be out on the road that day. Let’s understand this with a few examples:

• If the date on the calendar is 1st, 11th, 21st or 31st then all the cars ending with the number 1 have to be off the roads.
• If the date on the calendar is 10th, 20th or 30th, then all the cars ending with the number 0 have to be off the roads.
• If your car number ends with the number 9, then you can’t be bringing your car out on the road on the dates of 9th, 19th and 29th of a month. 

My solution is quite practical, easy to implement, not too much of a burden to the citizens and yet effective in curtailing the number of cars on the road on any given day. 

Of course, the reduction in the number of cars would be much lesser than what we see with the Odd-Even scheme, but we have to balance out the requirements of the individuals with the requirements of the society. 

What would you say to this Mr. Arvind Kejriwal?

LETTING GO

The topic that I have chosen for today’s blog has some relevance in each and every one of our lives.  As human beings, emotions play a significant role in deciding our behaviour and in building relationships and attachments towards people as well as inanimate objects and things.

Quite often as someone or something becomes ours, we tend to get emotionally attached to it very strongly and the reasons for the same can be multifold. Some people or things bring joy and happiness to us, some others have a certain strong memory/memories attached to it, while some others have been acquired by putting in a lot of value (money or time or emotion or efforts).

From here on, I would like to talk about people and objects as two separate entities as each of the two has a separate emotion and value to it and it would be foolish to talk about the two in the same frame or with the same lens.

I will start with the inanimate objects first as they can be dealt with far easily than people. When I say that they can be dealt with far easily, what I mean is that one can let go off them far more easily. Yes, letting go…..two words which most of us hate to hear when it comes to things that we are very fond of. Letting go is a very strong action which requires one to be strong mentally and emotionally as letting go in most cases also means that you are accepting the fact that the thing will go away from you forever and you will not get to see it again in most cases. It is a very difficult act to perform and that is the reason we see a number of people holding on to a number of things dearly.

Let me illustrate what I am saying by a number of examples.

I have seen a number of mothers keeping the small clothes and toys of their kids, neatly folded/packed, occupying a large amount of space in their houses and cupboards even though the kid has become an adult and has left the home for a bright future. For that mother, there is no monetary value to any of these items but there is so much of nostalgia and memory attached to these items that asking her to let go off these can be very difficult.

Similarly, there are a number of women who still keep a size 26 jeans in their cupboard although they have outgrown that size a number of times over the last few years and they know it very well that they will never be able to reach that size again unless they decide to starve themselves. Yet if you were to ever ask them to let go of this jeans, the response that you will get is that she is keeping it so that she can wear it once again when she comes back to size 26.  Here again, when the woman looks at the jeans what she is actually remembering is that there were those days when she was really that slim. Nostalgia and memories once again play a big role in not allowing her to let go of her jeans.

You have a number of such cases of people keeping things that they won’t use again in future – books, clothes, toys, shoes and the list can go on.

It is always a struggle for them to let go of these possessions but sometimes you need to take that big step and just let it go as most of these things just occupy too much of space, which can be used to store or keep something else. Unless and until the emotion behind keeping that item is way too strong, you should just follow the rule of 6 and let go of these items.

Rule of 6 is an interesting rule that allows or facilitates letting go with some amount of ease. All you have to do is go through all the things that you have/own/possess every six months and ask yourself that which of these is something I have not used/worn/taken out in the last six months and put all those items aside. Once you have got them separated and if they are more than 6 items then what you can do is ask yourself that which of the 6 out of these is something I can let go off without feeling very bad. Select those 6 items and just discard them. You will feel better at this after sometime and you will also realise how much space you have got for new things and items in your life.

Now that the easy part has been talked about, let me talk about the difficult part which involves letting go of people.

Just look around and you will see a number of people who are holding on to another person even though there is no meaning left in holding on any more as there is no love or no happiness or no bond.  You see people holding on to companies (who I will consider as people) even though they are not happy there, people holding on to their partners even though the relationship or marriage has gone kaput, people holding on to friends who are really not friends but opportunists.

In most cases, people are holding on to other people and not letting go because of:

1. The time and effort that they have given – Seen mostly in case of companies, relationships and friendships
2. Kids and Social stigma – Seen mostly in case of marriages
3. Fear of the future and the unknown – Seen mostly in case of companies, relationships and marriages
4. Inertia or the mental strength – Seen mostly in case of companies and relationships

Almost all the people know when there is a genuine bond or feeling between people and when are they really holding on. There is just no point in dragging it for more time when you know that the result will be the same or worse. Of course, in the case of people, one has to try much harder and see if there is any merit and value in holding on or not before deciding the next step.

Yes, letting go in this case is not easy at all and it can really drain you out but sometimes when it has to be done it has to be done. Unfortunately there is no rule of 6 that can work in this case. The only rule that works here is asking your heart and your head whether it is worth continuing any more or will you be happy and better off outside and with that single approach, just go ahead and let go.