Petrol price hike - normal reaction

Petrol prices hiked by Rs. 7.50. The headlines looked scary. People reacted to the news in various ways. One of the ways was to fill up the tank before the prices actually went up. On the face of it, that looks like a sensible thing to do. However, once you do a quick calculation, you would realize the cost of filling up one final time before the hike.

In many places, people queued up in front of petrol pumps in the evening after returning from their respective offices. Long, serpentine queues were quite common. In certain places, people had to wait to a couple of hours before their turn at the pump.

Now, let us do quick Math. Assuming someone went with a mid-sized car with the tank (capacity: 40 liters) empty. At Rs. 7.50 per liter, by filling up the tank, our friend saved Rs. 300.

If one had to wait in the queue for an hour and a half, the cost of time would be Rs. 200 per hour, as someone saved Rs. 300 by spending 1.5 hours. If one had to specially go from home to the petrol pump, you have to add the fuel burnt for the travel.

Add to that the mental agony of waiting for what feels like eternity. In the heat of May, some kept the car AC running, burning some precious petrol. It only required burning 4 liters of petrol to spend what was saved through the effort of queuing up.

We often behave in such amazing ways that appear to be very rational, until someone thinks dispassionately. What looked rational was actually the response to a pain caused by the petrol price hike.

The human brain is wired to think rationally and irrationally, simultaneously. Very often, our responses are completely rational; very often, totally irrational. Such inconsistency makes us normal human beings.