Vanity Fair is a novel by William M Thackeray, who is in no way related to the famous Thackeray family in Mumbai. The title of the novel is taken from John Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’, where Vanity Fair is a stop along the pilgrim's route — a never-ending fair held in a town called Vanity, representing man's sinful attachment to worldly things. Today, the title is more widely recognised as the name of an American magazine. While vanity may have been contemptible to Bunyan, the Maharashtra government knows how useful it can be for raising resources. A vehicle, whether it’s a costly Rolls-Royce or a humble Maruti Celerio, has only one function: to carry passengers from one place to another. Of course, there are marginal differences in the comfort provided by different vehicles, but that comfort has no correlation with the car's registration number. The Transport Department knows this better than car owners.
There was a time when fancy numbers like 0001 or 9999 signified that the car owner was either influential or a VIP. As demand grew, governments everywhere began charging special fees for such numbers. According to the latest notification issued by the Maharashtra government, the price for certain numbers can go up to ₹15 lakh for four-wheelers and ₹3 lakh for two- and three-wheelers. Nobody except the wealthy would grudge the recent steep increase in these fees. If they have the money to flaunt, why not collect more from them when they enjoy driving a car with a number like 3333? On the flip side, a traffic constable can easily trace the vehicle, as such a number is hard to forget. In 2017-18, Maharashtra raised ₹139.2 crore by allotting vehicle numbers. "The more, the merrier" seems to be its motto as people willingly pay for their vanity.
