“Our engineers burned the midnight oil to produce this car,” said the MD as he showed me into his factory in the outskirts of the city, “and after this lockdown, this is just the car for your highly strained pocket!”
“And this car will cost less than a lakh?” I asked.
“Less than fifty thousand!” said the beaming managing director as he took me to the workshop area. “There’s it! The cheap car the whole country wants!”
“It’s beautiful!” I chortled.
“The paint we’ve used is the latest in oven finish technology,” said the MD proudly. “The gloss will retain its sheen even after a month.”
“There must be somewhere you have cut costs to price a model so low” I whispered in disbelief.
“Safety belts with imported buckles!” continued the MD.
“Superb” I said in awe.
“No nonsense seats that will wear out the toughest butt, before wearing itself out!”
“Unbelievable!” I exclaimed.
“Fibreglass bumpers that will not damage the car in front!”
“Nor the car behind!” I shouted with glee.
“Headlights with screw-on-bulbs!”
“Brilliant!”
“Tinted glasses!”
“Awesome!”
The managing director of the automobile company looked at me with unconcealed pride. “This is what the nation has been crying for!” he said. “Our shares will hit the roof!”
“You will be listed on the New York exchange too,” I said.
“People will praise us for being thrifty but nifty,” he said, “they will now have money left to put in their banks!”
“Yes,” I shouted.
“We’ll teach a new global philosophy, that cheap is cool!” laughed the MD as he gave me a high five. “Will you mention this in your column?”
“Ofcourse,” I said.
“Let’s go to my office for some champagne!”
“Let’s take the car for a spin,” I said eagerly.
“A what?” asked the puzzled managing director.
“For a drive,” I explained pleasantly.
“It can’t be driven,” said the MD slowly. “For that you’ll have to install an engine.”
“It doesn’t have an engine?” I asked incredulously.
“What do you expect for fifty thousand rupees?” shouted the MD as he pushed me out of the workshop and onto the road outside. “A car with an engine!”
And as you chuckle, think about how we ourselves are fooled: “Did you light and wave the candle around on Sunday for nine minutes without asking about protective gear for doctors, millions of testing kits for the country, thousands of ventilators which will soon be needed, and how the government was going to handle unemployment, hunger and recession?
Or were you, like the rest, fooled by a fancy car with no engine?

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Read…
DARE by Robert Clements.
It will change your life.