Penniless Ride

Penniless ride

I was on my way to Salem seated in an air-conditioned two tier coach tasting the dinner carefully and tastefully packed by my wife. Eating in a train is always fun. Your hunger coupled with the immediate environment, the choice food, the window visions – all these make the dinner different and more palatable. It was when I almost finished the meal that I got a phone call from my daughter overseas announcing the withdrawal of the high denomination currency. Sometimes you hear the local news from those reside thousands of miles away. With amusement and anxiety I peered in my pocket to see a couple of one thousand and five hundred notes. The Prime Minister had announced that these notes would lose their legal tender by twelve midnight which was hardly 130 minutes away. The early morning arrival at Salem and the subsequent itineraries threatened me with unpleasant experience. Fortunately a taxi driver was waiting patiently for me at the station having been instructed by my friend who requested me to participate in the programme. In fact the useless money was idling in my pocket throughout my two day stay because everything was covered by my hospitable host. Small currency   had high value everywhere. Those who had them  flaunted them proudly whereas a few that had the new pink 2000 notes cowered behind counters fearing rejection. The irony of life changed the pride of the rich and scarcity of the poor. Long, worried faces patiently stood in the winding queues braving the hot sun and dust for the pea nut cash the ATMs were offering. You are all smiles if you could get smaller denominations from banks, commercial complexes and counters. Heated debates, articles galore, personal stories and media humour were all about the present predicament. People began to weigh their immediate needs and carefully shelved their dreams and extravaganza  till things resumed to normalcy. The restriction of withdrawal from a bank – Rs. 24000/- a week – made people to avoid depositing their extra money in their bank accounts. Everyone had a mini bank at home carefully stacking all denominations for their needs. Exact change was no more a painting on the wall; it became a reality. Demonitisation thus made us saner than ever before.