“Mom! But why can’t I go in the school bus, like my other friends?” asked Molly. “No means no and I don’t want any other discussion on that!” said Sujata watching intently on her laptop, as she made few more changes in the Power Point presentation she needed for her office, the next day. Her husband was watching television and she could easily hear the discussion of some politicians and professors on the increasing pollution in Delhi/NCR .Oh please! Do we as a nation, really want to know? As if we are blind to see that increasing number of vehicles and factories are the reason for this alarming pollution.
She finished her work, and went in Molly’s room to say goodnight and again, she asked her the same question. “Mom! All my friends come and go to school together and they keep on telling me about all the fun things, they do together in the school bus.”

Sujata, who was little fed up with this discussion, hid her irritation and said, “Because, it’s not safe! And we have no problem in picking and dropping you. So, instead of cribbing uselessly, please learn to appreciate the efforts of your parents. On the other hand, coming by school bus means wastage of time also as you have to get up early in the morning to get ready and you will come back home late in the evening? When will you get the time for your dance class?”

“But!” Molly was about to open her mouth but went off to sleep quietly after looking at Sujata’s stern face.
 

Next morning, as Sujata picked up the newspaper, the headline gained her attention. Finally, the chief minister of Delhi thought that it’s time they should deal with this serious issue of pollution and announced this odd-even rule. Sujata smiled as ladies are exempted this time. She was about to turn to wake Molly up when she saw Mrs Gupta and Mrs Narang waving to her and coming towards her. After passing on the usual greetings, they settled themselves on the chairs in her front porch and asked her whether she read the newspaper or not.

“Yes! I did,” said Sujata showing the newspaper in hand to them. “Oh God! Tell them to hurry up!” thought Sujata who was getting late for the office. They both asked her whether she will be interested in pooling car with them as they both had card with even-numbered digits and her car had an odd number plate. She smiled weakly at them thinking about the speed of their networking skills.

“It’s a matter of fifteen days only,” said Mrs. Narang. Yeah! Precisely! And Sujata also agreed to their proposal as she doesn’t have any other option too as both she and her husband had odd-numbered cars.
She broke the news to Molly and her husband. And she saw the smile on her daughter’s face reaching to her eyes. Sujata nodded her head in disbelief and went back to her office presentations. And when the big day arrived, Molly was all excited.
In the afternoon, when she picked them up, and was coming back to house, all the kids at backseat suddenly started shouting. Poor Sujata, not knowing what to do, applied the brakes and bought the car to halt, turned back and asked, “What happened?”

“Ice cream!” said the little boy with a sheepish smile.

Sujata looked in the way of his pointed finger and saw that there, on the roadside, stood an ice-cream vendor. All the kids were laughing and smiling. Sujata smiled too. And parking the car on the road side, she asked the kids to come out and bought them an ice-cream each. Looking at their happy faces, she was transported back into her own school times when she used to enjoy kulfi treats on the road sides. When nobody’s parents dropped their kids to school, when they would play one last game, one last time before reaching home, and still they do have all the time and energy to do homework and accomplish thousand other things.

‘Are we becoming overprotective as parents? Is it not the time when the kids learn about the basic human relations and values?’ thought Sujata standing there in silence, looking at their content and happy faces. From that day onward, every drive to school was loaded with laughter, games, and good old antakshari. Those fifteen days just flew away and Sujata relived her good, old school days.
Molly was really sad, the next day, while she was again alone in her car. “Molly! Would you like to go by school bus next year?” said Sujata, clearing her throat choked with emotions.

“Yeaa...h! Thanks Mom! You are the best mom ever,” said Molly hugging Sujata.
That day, in a heated argument, about this rule which is ruling everyone’s life at that point of time, a colleague asked her what she had to say about it. “Oh! Me! I found that this odd-even rule is not bad at all. It’s really good for our kids and our good health. We should support it,” said Sujata smiling and walked away leaving her colleagues wondering why this woman who, fifteen days ago, was complaining and cribbing non-stop about this new rule forced upon them, suddenly, changed her point of view.