Demonetization: A financial and human (mis)stroke

The day I withdraw my kharcha-paani from the bank, I usually go straight from the bank to a moderately good eatery to give myself a treat.

There is always a tussle between a plate of hot upma with steaming masala chaai or chicken falafel with lots of hummus accompanied by the warmth of that unfailing companion:
The ever-uplifting garam chaai ki pyali.

But either way it is a sumptuously rejuvenating experience which I look forward to.

This is followed by window shopping.

And if there is something really gorgeous (and reasonably priced too) I might even spend up to fifteen hundred rupees to add it to my wardrobe.
This is the "awaragardi" I enjoy very much twice in a month. I am bad with savings. So I withdraw strictly as much as I require. I cannot hoard.
Clothes, food, furniture, cosmetics, accessories etc etc , if they are more than what I can use, I give them away.

So, it seems much as usual, but comes back like coincidence that the afternoon of this 8 November, I withdrew five thousand rupees from the bank, went to my usual haunt and settled down comfortably with chaai and upma.

It was a usual afternoon.

The place was fairly (but not uncomfortably) busy.

As usual the shops around were having a steady flow of window-shoppers and buyers.

I also strolled in and out of the shops looking for nothing in particular.

Soon enough some lovely long skirts had me drooling over them.

Mulling over which one to buy, it occurred to me that I should have a look at the shops in Elco Market too.

So postponed the decision for the next day, and I came back home.

Everything usual took a turn for the unusual with a message from my sister.

"Saw the news?" she asked me.

This actually very unusual because we hardly watched news on television for the past many many months.

I asked her What the news was, but No reply came.

Meantime my boys started discussing on WhatsApp if there was enough cash with each one of us?

Now the horror of the News that my sister had mentioned started unfolding...

The five thousand rupees I had withdrawn hours earlier were in the 500 denomination.

So I was now sitting with ten notes of 500 which were rendered worthless by "the boldest decision in the financial history of Independent India"
(This is how PayTM hailed this disastrous announcement in its advertisement)

The next day banks were to remain closed.

By God! was the common man prepared for the chaos to which the banks opened ...
For the common man, as for the bank employees, this totally unexpected and unimaginable financial jerk has been nothing short of a horrific nightmare.

The fallout of it all has been huge and multidimensional.

It has unsettled numerous innocent human lives in more ways than any layperson could have imagined.

But the planners of this so called surgical strike are supposedly among the best brains in the country.
They should have foreseen.
And even if they did not have that kind of a vision, they should at least now not turn a blind eye to the suffering of the underprivileged.

However instead of bringing back a sense of stability and calm to the common man, there have been theatrics and counter theatrics by the political parties and a sorry display of complete absence of any sensitivity for the hardships of the masses from some upper classes.

As things unfold it is becoming more and more heart breaking to see how miserable people have suddenly become not so much because some people are facing real financial problems, but more so watching the soullessness of people who seem untouched by this mock-stroke.

Ismat Chughtai had written in Urdu some lines when my brother had asked for her autograph years ago.
I don't remember the exact text, but it was something like:
" Duniya mein do tarah ke log hotey hain:
Amiir aur Ghariib
Duniya mein do tarah ke mazhab hotey hain:
Amiir aur Ghariib
Duniya mein do tarah ke mulk hotey hai:
Amiir aur Ghariib
Duniya mein do tarah ke nazariye ( points of view ) hotey hain:
Amiir aur Ghariib "

May I humbly add a small heartfelt line to her memorable ones:

Demonetization has yet again categorized people into the same two types: 

Amiir aur Ghariib

And as the aftermath continues this following message someone shared on a social networking site sums up the crisis with much logic and depth:

"DeMonetisation reminds me of the Sheep
who cheered when their leader promised them
a blanket each.

Till one sheep asked *where will the wool come from??*😳😳"