Switching loyalties has been ingrained in most people when they calculate such a course of action will them do a hell of good. The question is a matter of degree. Some are called great opportunists who tend to pounce on the first chance of profit dangling before them; others may do so after mulling over a host of factors, sometimes guided by their genuine basic need or self-preservation or by principles. In such cases, consistency may well be regarded as the virtue of the donkey. Pat comes this parallel when the talk focuses on switching LPG brands when consumers, driven to desperation, may jump on the new bandwagon.

Of course, this will not come gratis. Under consumers’ very nose, many gas dealers are having the time of their life finding quite a few ready to fork out more than they could have bargained for. For the ordinary run of consumers, the idea of switching brands comes as a last resort. Otherwise, what fool would volunteer to shell out an extra few hundred rupees for the same product for this mere privilege? Gas companies may raise hell, but in fact they are two-timing on each other. But most important of all, they have left the poor consumers high and dry by walking off with their prized possession — sovereignty. Unless buyers gain the right to choose, even the hyped consumer card system may continue to smell of some noxious matter neither solid nor liquid.