Everyone is talking about change now a days. They are all asking
change in public utilities, change in government policies, change in climatic
conditions, change in society and change
in perceptions. I am also concerned about change. I am concerned about my change.
The change that I deserve. The change they have robbed me of. The change that they all owe me.
I read newspaper (worth Rs.3) every day. World economy is
facing a slowdown. US economy is still hanging on a balance. Euro zone is in
pits. But guess what - Indian economy is thriving. Ah! don’t believe what the
share markets or industry experts tell you. They don’t know what is happening
in India since they are busy - shouting all day. Don’t trust the local traders
as well because they are also busy shouting. They are shouting the trading rates
of shares, bonds and commodities. And they are so busy shouting that no one has
the time to wonder where these commodities are going or who is buying them.
Well, I am buying them.
And it so happens that after all the shouting and ding-dong
in the mandi (market where pulses (worth
Rs. 42), vegetables etc. are sold), I buy some potato (worth Rs. 31), a little
tomato (worth Rs.21 ) and one onion (worth Rs. 4). Onions have become really
expensive for me to buy now, you see. “Chappan
rupya hua hai!,” cried the vegetable monger (Rs. 56 in total). I hand him
Rs. 60 and wait for my change. Keeping the notes firmly in one of his wooden
boxes the monger started helping another customer with his vegetables. After a
lull of about 5 seconds, he looked up at me. I looked back at him. His ‘look’
changed to frown followed by my own burrowed frown. Only when his expression
turned into quizzical that I demanded my change. The vegetable monger was
horrified. The customer-in-waiting besides me gave me a how-cheap look. Fed-up
of all these twisted faces, I decided to leave the place with dignity (worth
Priceless).
These people have
now devised strategies to steal my change. They tag their services with prices
such as Rs. 399 or Rs. 1099. Now when I give them 100 rupee notes, they slyly rob me of that 1 rupee extra
I give them. They are all in this
together and they are all out to make
me poorer by not giving back the change.
I remember the good old time when nobody was really worried
about the economy or about inflation or rising petrol prices (worth Rs. 73). Times like these, I had to beg at home for a rupee to buy even an ice-cream gola (worth
Rs. 1). You had to fight with the rickshaw wallahs for every 2 rupees. These
were good times - since there was no 500 rupee note, people always had change.
Today, people have devised new methods to loot people of
their change. Not two but three shining examples of this phenomenon that has
caught up with all general store owners and others:
1 You go to a store and buy a Sneakers chhoti waali (worth Rs. 15) and give the
owner Rs. 20. He always tries to sell me a Five Star chhoti waali (worth Rs. 5) along with it to avoid giving me the
change. He wants to eat away at my 5 rupees! I could buy a coke chhoti waali in 1998 with 5 rupees.
2 I ordered a few books from an online store. The
books cost me 1057 rupees and I gave 1060 rupees to the delivery boy. The guy
took the money and left. No sir! Not even a word about 3 rupee change.
3 Once travelling in a city bus, the conductor in
the bus told me that I can take the 8 rupees in change the ‘next time’ I board
the same bus. How kind of him. But how will I find the same bus in 1000s of
other buses in the city is a still a riddle to me.
The worst part is – you cannot, you just cannot ask for the
change. Because if you do, you are labelled as cheap. People in the city bus
stare at me if I ask for my own change. Grocery store owners talk to me with
contempt once they come to know that I won’t take a candy for the change they
owe me. Nobody wants to talk about the change they have to give me back.
I beg of these people to watch and study share markets, US economy
news, Euro zone crisis, recession, inflation and everything that is making me
poorer and give me back my change. This Diwali, with Goddess Lakshmi as my
witness, I took an oath to always ask for my change. I don’t care if it is
humiliating to ask my own money back. I don’t want that extra five star with
the Sneakers. I just want my change back!
When I was little, I used to maintain a piggy bank where I
used to store all the change that I got from the once honest shop owners. And whenever it was full I used to break it
with anticipation, counting how much money I had collected. And it used to be
sufficient to buy unlimited candies. Now there is no piggy bank. All that is
left is a bank and a credit card which I use to avoid being robbed of any
change only to look with the same anticipation and a little dread at my credit card bills.
It’s been years now since I last held that shining one rupee
coin or a little heavy five rupee coin. But I often wonder that if I don’t have
change, if my friends don’t have it and the shopkeepers don’t have it then who
owns the change that all of them owe me. I promise, anyone telling me
where my change is will get all the change owed to him. So, here is to bringing
about that change because change is our wallet’s right and we shall have it.
