money

Means, meaning and change !

A twitter friend informs that a Singapore friend a store carries a bowl with an announcement “if you fear change, leave it here” ! Ah, change ! That universal constant.

Finding change is difficult. All the time. In the organization. Or in the wallet.



There was a time when a handful of such coins would get you a fair distance. But those were times when inflation was something that you did to a balloon or a cycle tyre !

The modern day frenzy of glitz, glamour and big ticket acquisitions, these coins don’t curry any favour. You run the risk of being politely told to keep the change that you left behind for the waiter, if the change was nothing more than a grand jingle of a fistful of coins !

There are those that rue “For 10 ps you could get an ice cream. For 25 the town bus would traverse the distance that would do the milestone proud”. Ofcourse, people from a generation ahead would talk about ‘annas’ that used to have far more bang for the coin.

In a process of evolution, these are becoming relics of the past. A couple of years ago, while exploring the Daulatabad fort a young boy tugged at the camera bag. “Psst..want to buy old coins ?” It was much later that I learnt that the ‘cloak of secrecy’ was a class act. A ploy to work on the ‘genuine’ quotient of all what was sold.



There was no way of identifying if the coins were fake or otherwise. They all looked faded, oddly shaped and interesting. The missus was appalled that I was even pondering exchanging coins that had ‘no value’ with hard currency that would set her back by an arm and a leg.

Someday, these coins will be a collectors item. Out of circulation. Called antique pieces. But that’s the story of life, isn’t it !?! These coins, if they had vocal chords, what stories would they tell. Of endless toil to acquire.

Inevitably wrapped in those instances, stories of how ‘means’ superseded ‘meaning’ !

I write this pondering about life. The setting sun is taking the Sunday with him. Tomorrow is Monday. A busy week ahead.

Theres loads to do. But that’s not going to stop me from wishing you a meaningful week ahead. By all means !


Notes to Myself !

Some things send me in a tizzy. Pompous talk, for one wins hands down. The other, is to see some ‘works of art’ ! Like the ones that i see in Ten rupee currency notes. Today i got four notes. And i plan to take them out of circulation.

And i wonder why people would scrawl !?!

Sampled here are four notes. And here is whats written on them. Not including the ‘i promise to pay the bearer..’

a. Pictorial Representation of ‘I love Mumtaz’
b. ‘I love Poondi’ stuck off and replaced with ‘I love Saleem’
c. A star and some other indecipherable script. I can read ‘Arsht Arsi’
d. ‘We are like this only’

a. For the love of the original Mumtaz, the Emperor Shah Jehan built the Taj Mahal ! So, if you cant afford it, must you leave a scrawl ?! To all the aspiring Shah Jehans of the world, if you have to showcase the love of Mumtaz, for heavens sake, go rent a flat, build a hut. Whatever. But spare the 10 rupee note ! Please !

b. And if you have doubts about who you really love and how to keep track as you move from Poondi to Saleem, may i suggest, you use a tissue paper. The currency note is for circulation, you see. On second thoughts, i wouldn’t give you that idea. I am recalling that statement. Now, jsut go buy tissue paper.

c. Ok. So you have this incorrigible urge to write. And practice your writing on currency notes only. Ok, so your father was the oil sheik, who has four wells somewhere in the gulf. Ok. Ok. But, at least, at the very least, write some stuff that we can read and understand.

d. And the last one. The next time, i catch you writing something like this, i am calling the cops. The mint. The RBI, anybody. Somebody. Ok. I promise to create so much noise, that , at least the next time, they would print a helpline for such traumatised people like me, to call and complain. Right there on the 10 rupee note !

Gandhi’s smile, was not always of approval.

Now, stop that scrawl.