Dining table talk: Delhi at odds with evens

New Delhi: Fifty years old Shiv Prasad Shetty is a businessman. He lives in upmarket Panchsheel Park area of South Delhi. These days his family dining table talk is mainly about ‘odd’ & ‘even’ formula or rule. They spend a lot of time discussing Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s ambitious ‘odd’ & ‘even’ formula to beat ever growing Delhi traffic and bring down pollution level.

Shetty is a law abiding citizen. He is not unhappy with the ‘odd-even’ rule. But, he is a bit worried, because all his cars have odd numbers. He is now planning to buy even number cars. So that he can travel all over Delhi all through the week.

Does not it defeat the purpose of "odd-even"?

"It does. But, what to do? We can’t live without cars," he says almost apologetically. Shetty is not the only one who is planning to buy new cars.

IBNLive has come across many such people in different parts of Delhi. Another businessman Ajay Kaushik has already bought another car with an odd number as his old car has an even number.

Meemansa, who lives in Noida travels to Delhi every day. She has already got another car from neighbouring Haryana. Same is the case with Ratika who lives in Delhi Cantonment.

According to a Road Transport Officer (RTO), at least 50% of the vehicle owners believe in numerology and opt for either odd or even number registration plates. He says a businessman in Delhi has more than 18 cars all ending with the same number ‘9’.

When IBNLive spoke to that businessman, he was sounding worried. He said, "I can buy ten more cars in a minute. The problem is I never use a vehicle which has any other number other than ‘9’. All other numbers are unlucky for me. I can’t risk my future just to follow Kejriwal’s ‘odd–even’ formula. For me, it is an attack on my personal belief."

A Muslim trader from Jama Masjid area of old Delhi expressed same views. He claims that all three cars he owns end with the number ‘786’. Says he can’t buy vehicles with any other registration numbers.

Since the whole idea behind ‘odd-even’ rule is to reduce the number of vehicles on roads, why can’t they use public transport thrice a week? Both say they can’t as buses and Metro trains are overcrowded.

Both predict that the ‘odd-even’ rule is going to be a super flop and it is impractical.

There are others who back the initiative and ready to ‘adjust’ to the new system. Dinesh, a self employed person from Vasant Kunj, says he will use public transport or a taxi, thrice a week, if the "odd & even" rule stays.

Wherever you go in Delhi, you come across the people who are busy discussing the pros and cons of "odd & even" rule. Be it a wedding, be it a regular morning walk or a weekly meeting at a neighbourhood club, people are busy hotly debating it and trying to figure out how it affects their everyday life.

Social Media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp etc are full of jokes on "odd & even" formula.

A professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University said, "I did not even know the number of my car. I never bothered to look at the number plate. I have now found out that I have an odd number car. I can’t go out on even number days. On even number days, I can tell the people that I won’t step out as it inauspicious for me! It is another matter that I am a non-believer."

Naina, a corporate employee, said, "At my house, we discuss only this. Nothing else is being discussed these days. Since the Supreme Court has also backed it, there is nothing we can do. Let’s see how it unfolds in the coming days."

According to automobile dealers, if the ‘odd & even’ rule stays, then it will surely push up vehicle sales in Delhi. The Supreme Court ban diesel SUVs has already hit the vehicle sales across Delhi and they hope that "odd & even" formula might boost the sales. Some say it can push the sale by at least 20% in the next 6 months, if "odd & even" rule is implemented effectively.

The Delhi government is very vague on the possibility of "odd & even" rule resulting in increasing the number of vehicles on the roads instead of reducing them.

"Odd & Even" has evenly divided Delhiites dining table talks.