It is said that when things get truly dismal and oppressive in a nation, it sets the stage for a revolution, which throws out the current way of doing things and replaces it with a new system. Think of the ‘let them eat cake’ moment during the French Revolution.
This is what came to my mind when I heard the Prime Minister of my country on television on the night of November 8, last. I felt proud that an economic revolution had been declared and imposed by our worthy Prime Minister in pursuit of tax evaders, terrorists, currency-forgers and miscreants illegally holding Indian cash.
The next day, I realised that there were no small-denomination currency notes at home to purchase eatables and household provisions – only the big ones that had been declared ‘illegal tender’ the previous evening. On TV, I heard our Prime Minister proudly take credit for his great step in Japan, and felt reassured that it was only a ‘minor inconvenience’ – this was nothing compared to the misery that our dear leader had wrought upon the black money hoarders.
Watching people standing in a long queue in front of banks that morning, I thought a revolution was certainly in the making. With the help of my bank manager, I managed to exchange 6 five-hundred Rupee notes to meet the immediate needs of my family.
Later that evening, I was tuned into one of the several broadcasts of our energetic Prime Minister in one city after another when tears welled up in my eyes – the strong Prime Minister was choked in emotion as he described how he had left everything (house, family, friends) in order to serve the nation and its people. I was convinced that our Prime Minister was a godsend to our nation and that only he had the wherewithal to Make India Great Again.
However, I then began to hear about the agony of people stuck in serpentine queues in desperate search of a means to withdraw cash – their own savings! I must admit: my mind wavered. Had our Prime Minister thought this through fully?
Just as I pondered the impact of the revolution, I received an SOS from my son in Delhi that he urgently needed cash in lower-denomination notes to meet basic household expenses. He explained that he had been unable to withdraw or exchange his high-currency notes from the bank in spite of queuing up for three hours. His 72-year-old domestic maid, ’Amma’, had come to their rescue by giving one 100-Rupee note to my grandson for buying food, and later offering a Rs. 2000/- note to the family, which she had been able to exchange on account of a short ‘senior citizens’ queue at the local post office.
My bank manager again came to my rescue and I was able to withdraw some money from my account that I rushed over to Delhi for my son. The joy that those notes brought was like water in the desert. My son called up the local stores from where the family had been buying daily items on credit. First came the ‘kirana’ man, with a stack of recent bills that had been made for purchases on credit. That must have let the word out on the street that low-denomination notes had become available at this residence because, suddenly, we had a series of local service providers and shopkeepers drop by one after the other to get their credit balance cleared! There was the vegetable vendor with his balance of Rs.1300. And the real surprise came late in the evening, at 10pm, when the stationery storekeeper came over to collect his Rs.210! To cap it all off, he graciously accepted Rs. 200, saying all he wanted were the Rs.100 notes! Thereby reversing the tradition of ‘tip’.
This was an economic revolution, indeed.
