Give A Lift

It is a curse to be a landlocked country. With no access to the sea and global market directly, our country is wholly dependent on India (and China) for goods which are not produced locally. We have neither any proven reserve nor the technology for extracting and refining fossil fuels. Petroleum products have become a part of day-to-day life today. Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) is a necessity in every household in the city for cooking purposes. Nepalese people are dependent on petrol to run their motorbikes, diesel for vehicles and kerosene for cooking and lighting purposes.

After India imposed an “undeclared embargo”, Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has failed to supply petroleum products to the countrymen. The government has introduced an odd-even number plate system for odd and even dates and has also announced a quota system for the distribution of petrol and diesel. People have responded positively to this step. However, after a week, many vehicle tank reserves have emptied, and the roads are vacant. Because of the odd-even plate number system, public vehicles are reduced to nearly half. Because of the unavailability of fuel, the actual number of buses on the roads has reduced to less than one-fourth.

Travelling has become very difficult. It’s normal for people to wait for hours for a vehicle, travel uncomfortably in congested buses and on the vehicle roofs. Vehicles have stopped services in many not-so-busy routes. People are suffering a lot. In such a chaotic environment, we need to help each other. People have learnt the importance of giving and receiving a lift.

A few years back, this writer was riding a motorcycle from Kalikasthan to Dillibazar. A person came out of his car and asked for a lift. He was with Softwarica College and had an important meeting to attend at Jamal. He was about to get late as his car broke down. I offered him a seat. During that short encounter, he explained to me the importance of helping others and how there was a culture of giving a lift in other countries. I was impressed and have since helped walking students.

These days many people, especially youths, have become very positive about giving a lift. We can see many vivid examples of this in the social media like Facebook and twitter. Not only boys, even girls are saying that they are ready to give a lift on their scooters if the route is the same. Youths are sharing their bike number, time, mobile number and whole travel route on various Facebook groups so that needy people can seek help from them.

Providing a lift however comes with risks. It’s not safe to offer a lift during low light and in isolated areas. It’s not good to accept or give a lift to people (especially girls) to unfamiliar destinations. Asking a lift might be a way to direct one towards unsafe locations in order to loot or engage in some physical assault. Proper judgement is necessary before accepting or providing a lift.

Patriotism, brotherhood and a culture of helping are slowly increasing, and it’s one of the merits of the undeclared embargo. The government and people are learning the importance of being independent. It’s high time to promote local technology and work for developing non-traditional energy.

nirajan.wordpress.com