A noteworthy dilemma

Running around to manage finances days before his wedding, a groom shares his ordeal following the government’s move making Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes illegal tender.

When the news of the BJP-led government banning the use of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes came to light on Tuesday night, the city undoubtedly went into a tizzy. Folks were seen either managing their change, queuing up outside ATMs or stocking up on supplies that could still be procured with notes of higher denominations. There were some, however, who were more worried than the others — Runcil Rebello, for instance, who is set to get married on Nov. 12. Instead of paying a visit to a salon like most grooms-to-be would, the 26-year-old resident of Bhayandar spent all of Wednesday running around, trying to manage his money, three days before the big day.

“We had created envelopes with money to give out and 90 per cent of them are filled with Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Now we have to find a way to get Rs 100 notes, or see if we can deposit the money in the account and then give people cheques. Mostly, we believe it’ll get done, but we definitely did not need one more stressful event before the wedding,” he sighs.

Despite a few days to go for the wedding, Runcil explains that he shall be spending all day today trying to replace the notes worth nearly Rs 2 lakhs. “Since I heard the news, both my fiancée and I have been panicking, everyone in my family has been panicking,” he says adding, “We’re just going to each and every option available to us right now to see how much we can extract from banks and ATMs. We’ve spent the whole day just planning out what we should do once the banks open up. Even though it’s my pre-wedding roce day today, I’m going to be spending all of it in the bank.”

Thankfully for Runcil, most vendors associated with his wedding preparations are offering him a buffer time to make payments. “Luckily for us, most of them are willing to give us a few more days, so it’s been good in that way,” he adds.

This doesn’t mean Runcil is against the move entirely. “For me, since I had a personal investment in this, my reaction was very severe. Even my Facebook post was a little exaggerated. A lot of people are telling me that this is a good move, and may be it is. I really do hope this serves a larger interest in the long run.”

Gangadhar – Flower Vendor We have been struggling since morning. The Dadar market is usually brimming with people and today there are no customers at all. Even in the morning at the wholesale market, our regular suppliers told us to take the flowers on credit and give them cash later. They should have at least notified us. I have been doing this business for 40 years now and there has never been such a lull in the whole market. Almost 50 per cent of Dadar market is now suffering losses. These two days are going to be very difficult but we can see the “acche din coming our way.”

Sujeet Vaishya – Vegetable Vendor I don’t have any change left to give my buyers and that’s affecting the business. We are small time daily wage earners, we don’t have tonnes of rupees stacked in our houses. We survive on '100 rupees a day. If this goes on for more than two days, people like us won’t be able to survive at all. The fact that I’m able to talk to you at such a peak hour shows it all. There were times when there used to be a queue and people used to come one after the other but today is different. I know this will cause a lot of hassle for a few days but I have faith that it is good of the nation as a whole.

Jalil Ahmed — Taxi Driver The petrol pumps have refused to take the notes. I came to know about the news last evening and by then I just had a single one '500 note left with me. The banks are shut and I have no idea how am I going to survive. Yesterday, at the petrol pump people were exchanging blows and the cops had to be called to stop them. They were giving petrol and gas only to those people who had change. I have no change left and it’s going to be very hassling. There are no passengers on the streets today; maybe no one has change left at all. People who have black money will prefer burning the notes rather than declaring their currency. I hope something good comes out of this.

Ashifa Sarkar Vasi (Ballet teacher and health professional): I am deeply shocked and hurt, not just by the fact that Donal Trump is President but that so many people from my country would vote for him. I’m a Muslim American citizen from the conservative South and I have never felt as distant from my country as I do today. I think that a big factor was the fact that Hilary’s political past was held against her in a big way. From his acceptance speech though, it would seem that he is taking a more tolerant tone. One can only hope that he will follow what he said in his speech today, rather than the kind of things he’s been saying so far.

Adam Dow Artistic Director at Improv Comedy Mumbai I’m from Seattle. This is very upsetting for everyone in my hometown right now. Trump’s win is a giant step backwards for our country. I feel that we will have to work even harder now to fight for equal rights, climate change, sensible gun laws, affordable college, humane immigration policy, human rights, voting rights, and equal pay.

D Wood (Jazz Musician): Even though I am not in America right now, my psyche is affected by this turn of events. Trump’s policies include displacing 11 million people from their homes. Many of these people are my friends. I don’t want them to be displaced from their family homes one day. This entire election process was like a reality show with mud slinging and insults, once Bernie was out of the running. It just goes to show you that people nowadays are just attracted to shallower things and don’t think of the repercussions of their actions. Although, even Hilary wasn’t a great candidate and her run in American politics has been quite sordid. But this is a man who ignores global warming and has said such blatantly violent and misogynistic things that I definitely don’t want him to be my daughter’s President. In a country like India, we are just beginning to talk about sexual violence and make a stand for women. Now, it’s like all sexist, misogynists got a mascot.I think that this gives us some impetus to try and be better human beings and create as much positivity in our own circles as we can.

Inputs from Aarti Bhanushali and Dyuti Basu