I had pulled up in an Exxon gas station somewhere in rural Virginia when I saw what you see in this picture. I do not think I have ever seen Kerosene being sold in a gas station. Frankly, I have never seen Kerosene sold anywhere in this country. It brought back a lot of memories of kerosene lamps with which I grew up every evening in the very early stages of my childhood in a village in India.

I went up to check what this was all about. It indeed was Kerosene. And I was fairly surprised by the price. Kerosene is what is used to power airplanes and contrary to popular opinion, it is less refined than the gasoline we put in our cars. And yet, the price of kerosene was much higher, as you can see in the picture.

But what I absolutely did not get is – who would buy kerosene? And for what? Farm equipments?

Much to Sharmila’s dismay, I decided to go in and ask the lady at the counter. I learnt that kerosene is used by folks there (I assume in certain rural parts of the country) for heat. I always thought that in this country, we use propane to heat houses (unless you have the centralized gas supply, of course, like in most houses). I had no idea that kerosene is used too.

Did you know that?