The right and the wrong way to fill petrol

Although I make a conscious effort to look at the events happening around me as objectively as I can, sometimes, I just can’t help being judgmental.

Take for instance the way lady riders fill petrol in their scootys/kinetics etc.

I went to the petrol pump in the morning. There was a huge rush there which generally is the case at that hour of the day. Of course, I don’t mind standing in such queues at all thanks to me iPod. So I patiently waited for my turn. When it finally came, I told the guy how much fuel I wanted, took out the money from my wallet as he was filling the petrol, handed him the money when he finished while simultaneously closing the fuel cap on me bike, took the change and held it in between my lips. With my wallet still in one hand, I dragged the bike forward with the other hand so that others waiting behind me could come forward and start filling.

Total turn around time – approx 30 secs !!

Now before all this happened, I saw this lady waiting in the queue. She was on one of those scooty things where you have to lift the seat up to access the fuel tank. Now, all the time she was waiting in the queue, she was sitting on her scooty. When her turn came, she calmly put the scooty on the main stand. Next she proceeded to remove her “White” gloves (??) and her Taliban head gear. Next she opened the seat and the fuel filling process started. After the requested amount of fuel had been filled-in, she closed the seat and dived into this huge bag that she was carrying on her scooty floor. I suppose she was looking for her purse because that’s what her hand came out with. She took the money out of the purse, waited for the change, put the change back in the purse and put the purse back in the bag. Then she put on her Taliban head-gear and her white gloves, put the scooty on it’s feet, pressed the electric start button and zoomed off.

Total turn-around time – approx 3 mins !!


I am completely against things like reservation and stuff. Even the whole cry about “women’s liberation’ seems kinda old and meaningless to me in the present times. But for once, I wish that they’d start having a separate queue for lady riders at the petrol pumps. And they should employ a lady to fill the petrol in the queue. That way, you create jobs for ladies, the lady rider can chat with the lady filler discussing the last episode of Nach Balliye and SIX guys can get petrol filled in the normal queue in the meantime. A win-win situation I say.


Now here’s the funny thing. Every thing I wrote above is highly exaggerated. So much so that it’s almost all false (the part concerning the lady rider). But - think about this honestly - how many of you actually believed what I wrote and didn’t think that I was just making this all up??

See ??

I think I’ve still managed to make a point.


PS: My sincere apologies if I’ve offended any ladies. Your comments are welcome.