This week, I got a new ATM card (debit card) from my bank. Unsolicited. I wondered why for I hadn’t applied for one. Private banks and their efficiencies, I thought. Only after receiving it did I realize that the ATM card I held was expiring this month. After 6 years of being in my wallet!
As I replaced the old and worn out card, with the spanking new glitzy card, I looked at it again.
It had stood by me, through thick and thin. (When the bank account was full & empty). It stood by me, in all my years of incessant travel, getting swiped in many countries and practically in every state of India. In swanky malls to dusty smaller town cities. The Pizzas, Pastas and Parathas ! Not to forget the Podi masal dosas !The miles of petrol, rail & air tickets…
I ran my fingers over it one more time. Fond recollections of the special occasions where I had used this card ran past me. With bosses. Friends. Girls as friends. Wife. Parents. Marriage. Brothers marriage. Parents anniversaries. My anniversaries. Credit card payments. Bill payments. Well, Well…
Of the times of happiness / relief, when it used to show if the money has gotten credited or debited. I thought of the times when the card would have shed a silent tear as I swiped it to glory and indulged in earthly pleasures!
Well, for all the hard work of enduring so many swipe machines across geographies irrespective of time, its going to take a well deserved rest. I put it in a cover, and placed it as part of memorabilia.
The bank advises me to break the card into two, and destroy it. I couldn’t get to do it. To my bankers, the old ATM card was a spent force. For me, it may not carry money. But carries a treasure trove of memories!
I looked at the new card. It was valid till 2011. I wondered how many changes life would have taken by the time we step into 2011. For a brief while, all the plans that I had made for the next so many years ran past me ! I ran my ‘old’ fingers through the new card again. To feel the newness in the card.
A sigh escaped my lips.
Time will tell.
This week, I got a new ATM card (debit card) from my bank. Unsolicited. I wondered why for I hadn’t applied for one. Private banks and their efficiencies, I thought. Only after receiving it did I realize that the ATM card I held was expiring this month. After 6 years of being in my wallet!