It was salary day….smiles all around….everyone checking their bank accounts and seeing a pleasant sight….a lot of cash in their kitty…like small kids eagerly awaiting to open their piggy bank, they all dream of withdrawing cash, hard cash…make their pockets heavy again so that they can party….again. With such ambitions I too made my way to the ATM counter….i had a host of things I needed to do with my withdrawal…”ahh, finally all my debts settled today!!!”….I went to the ATM machine…as expected, there were around 7-10 people in line for withdrawal…I was expecting this…and had brought my cell phone along for some gaming…..
After around 15 mins my chance finally came to get the dough…..during the course of these 15 mins, I saw a lot of happy faces…faces which reminded me of cats when they have had a lot of milk and are ready to go into the sun for a nice warm sleep….at ease....I entered the room and came out happy…I had a rocking 5K in my pocket (I had a lot of debts to settle this month) and had a lot of places I could spend it….
A day passed, and I revisited my wallet and was shocked to see the sight…a very gruesome one, total devastation…I had only 500 rupees!!! And the worst thing was…it was only a single 500 rupee note!!!! I was terrified…Getting a change is a mammoth task in a city like Mumbai!! But I kept my cool…it was snacks time so I went downstairs to canteen where I knew the owner would give me the change I most desperately needed..and I got it 4 cool 100 rupee notes and the change for the rest….it was so easy…….for now…
Next morning, I had to goto office, so I set out on my mission…got onto a bus…and was busy humming the songs thrown out by my radio….the conductor came and asked for hafta (read bus fare)..i checked my wallet to find that there were four 100 rupee notes waiting to be pulled out…I pulled out one and gave it to the conductor….An expression which would make a monkey (not used racially here) smile and giggle came on the face of the conductor…. “Chutta nahi hai kya?” (I don’t have change) came the thunderous voice (along with some spots of spits) on me….I gave a classic clueless look to which he said “tu logon ko chute paise rakhne mein kya jata hai” (what will happen for u to keep change?)…with a lot of arguing, he finally gave me a change to the 1st of four hundred rupees….
Weekend came and so did the next peril….how to get a change from an autorickshaw for my 2nd black pearl!!! The drivers never seem to carry any change….everytime it is a new excuse…”today I didn’t get any fare”…”just now I gave all my changes to that person” etc etc…u name it and they have the excuse…anyways so here I was with a 100 rupee note in my hand going around asking for change…I asked the paan bidi shop guy, a barber, cobbler, coffee shop, general stores…u name it, I asked it!!! Finally when I achieved the distinction of being a begger with 100 rupee note, I got the change I needed…came another very convenient mistake..”I don’t have even coin change”..so finally I had to donate 4 extra rupees to the rickshaw who left with a end to end smile on his face…
I kept on repeating my mistakes, after a few days, i bought the most expensive chewing gum I could ever….from a general stores, I got a chewing gum and popped it into my mouth and as I checked my wallet, horror struck!! No change to pay for the gum!! The shop owner, lazy as he was, gave a look which can easily give our angry politicians a run for their money and screamed “2 rupee ke chewing gum ke liye 100 rupee nikalte ho!!!” I tried a lot, argued, even offered to carefully package the chewing gum back and give it to him but he was adamant…he had a sole purpose in life…he desperately wanted to earn that 2 rupees and also didn’t want to fork out the change for the 100…
Finally since I was in a hurry to reach office, I had to give in and had to buy a stuff worth 37 rupees so as to get change I wanted….Finally when I reached office, I had a surprise! Something which I had forgotten…I forgot that my friend had borrowed 400 rupees from me and he was waiting to give it back!!! I got very excited and happy and removed my wallet…at the back of mind I made a promise to myself…to ensure I have change as I have in my pocket right now….Thats when I landed back at square 1!!! My friend gave me a 500 rupee note, took the hundred rupee note from my wallet and ran off to catch his bus….
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