Nov, 8 2016.
22:00 Hrs
We reached Cochin
Airport and were waiting to catch early morning flight back to Chennai.
My wife’s phone rang.
On the other end was a
shocked a client, a senior citizen.
He, an 80+ super
senior citizen – according to the parlance of Indian Income Tax Laws, was awake
at that late hour. That he was gasping
for breath could well be discernible even sans video phoning. His missile,
“Have you seen TV?”.
The whole day we were
crisscrossing in whatever mode of transport that was available on hand as soon
as we went about completing the hectic day and night long schedule in Cochin
and Ernakulam. Hardly there was any time to bother to look into idiot box.
So, my wife said,
“Why, what is the news?”.
The super senior
gentleman said, “you no longer can use your Rs.500/- and Rs.1000/- currency
notes.”
Now it’s our turn to
gather back our breath.
Suddenly we searched
our hand bag, purse. Only a few
hundreds, tens all that could sum up to about 2000s only, the balance we had in
Rs.500/s and Rs.1000s. All totaling to a
little less than Rs.10000/-.
Thank God.
The cab Walla, who
dropped us at the Airport, had accepted Rs.500/- in old currency. Probably he too must not have been aware of
the hot news blaring in all channels.
Then forgetting that
we hadn’t yet finished our supper, we couched ourselves in front of TV in the
lounge. PM was speaking in Hindi. The news that Rs.500/- and Rs.1000/- were demonetized
kept scrolling down.
We were wondering how
we would manage to catch a cab back once landing in Chennai in the early
morning.
Nov, 9 2016.
05:40 hours.
With bated breath, I
approached the Fast Track counter.
Handed over a Rs.500/-
currency note to the counter attender.
He simply accepted the same and printed out an invoice.
We headed to the
parking lot and handed over the slip to the driver.
We packed ourselves
and as well our baggage into the car.
As the cab meandered
through Meenambakkam, the driver started his conversation.
“What Sir, …………..about
this banning of old currencies?”
So tired we were, that
we simply whispered back, “What to do?’
He continued his
dialogue, “Sir, last night I just had only single Rs.500/- note. To have dinner, I thought of picking up
parcel on the way in a way side restaurant.
At the hotel, the cashier had no change to give back. Hence I gave back the parcel and walked away
without having dinner.”
My wife said, “So sad
Sir, we also didn’t have any dinner”.
Despite his staying
hungry, he said, “Don’t worry ma’am. Go home, relax for some time and have a
good breakfast.”
Relentless and not
minding his hunger, “Sir, we certainly need this dire step. How else are we going to get rid of this
rotten?”.
Reaching home, we saw
the newspaper thrown at the doorstep.
The headline just didn’t read but literally seemed like screaming. The line went this way, “Financial Pokhran”.
Thrown into water,
what to do?
Whether you know
swimming or not, you’ve got to shake somehow to reach out to some point of
survival.
In the midday, I just
was passing through bank branches. Everywhere, there was sea of humans, old,
young, middle aged et al.
I stopped by a small
catering service unit to have some green tea.
The lady at the
counter said, “Sir, it’s new challenge for me. I don’t want to turn away my
customers for want of change. I’m
planning to extend credit to the customers.
Let them give back after they could get some change themselves”.
This morning, got a
whatsapp forward. It conveyed similar
story from a church in Kerala. The
priest opened the hundi to let devotees avail whatever money they needed. Leaving Rs.500/- and Rs.1000/-, every other
currency was taken away. When asked for
the raison d etre, the Father seemed to
have answered, “The Gods can wait. How do we mortals carry on life without much
needed bare minimum money?”.
Note the undercurrent
of the above narrations. Did you see any
one complaining? Every one, the driver,
the lady at the restaurant and the priest at the Church tried to find a way
forward.
May be we may feel our
wings clipped abruptly.
Should we feel slain?
Isn’t time, we must
grow new, legitimate wings?
And rise like
phoenix?!
