UNIT OF MONEY

What's the unit of money?? Technically speaking its the lowest denomination of money which is indivisible.... and by the books it is 1 paise... I am not very sure about the pie and kaudi mathematics so cant really comment on it... (Remember: "do kaudi ke aadmi" and "main aapki pie pie chuka dungaa lalaji" from the yesterdecade movies)

But isn't it surprising no one remembers the humble aluminium coins anymore... we don't even get to see them anymore... except if some crazy guy (like me) is still clinging to his old coins nicely kept in a box in one of the cartons...

Forget about the humble one paise coin... or the rhomboid 5 paise coin... or the frilly edged 10 paise or the hexagonal 20 paise coins .. people are avoiding the 25 paise and 50 paise coins as well...

Now I do agree to a point that is inconvenient to carry coins... they weigh more than notes and I certainly dislike the sound of them in my pocket.. and GOD forbid, if I drop a coin... it becomes a real problem for me to pick it up from a slippery surface ... since my nails are so dug up (ok ok... I AM trying to give up biting nails)

But I am not reluctant to accept coins of small denomination as a valid means of trade... outside our office at the tea stall the cutting-chai is priced at Rs. 2.50 /- so that means I get 50 paise back with me ... but then people come up with excuses like.. "Agli baar laga lengey" to avoid taking that 50 paise...

Most often seen at Pan-wallahs .... that poor guy has to accept 50 paise from people but when he tries to give someone that 50 paise coin... "Bhaiya... Mint de do iski" .. Now where does that pan wallah go with his sackfuls of 25 paise and 50 paise coins????

The BEST bus conducters in Bombay... harass you if u produce 50 paise coins for the ticket...

I heard that somewhere in MP (guess it was Jabalpur or someplace) they have stusck together four 25 paise coins and count that as a rupee.. now it actually is a rupee but people dont want to carry four 25 paise coins...

I went to Bangalore long time back and there people were still using those aluminium coins... or for that matter the torn worn out notes were wrapped in plastic and still circulating... Now that is good.... coz we are increasing the life of a paper note....

There is a cost for printing currency, which sometimes exceeds the value of the note itself... as was the case with Re 1 and Rs 2 notes so they no longer are printing those notes

Just because a note is slightly torn doesn't mean it is completely devalued .... it still is a tenner or whatever it is

One reason why the coins of small denomination are loosing their sheen (literally) is that the purchasing power of rupee has gone down... things are expensive now... there is ahrdly anything u can buy with a lone 50 paise coin... gone are the days when a 25 paise could fetch you a orange ice lolly... then to avoid this mess should we reprice evrything so that everything has a Rs*.00/- kinda price... no paise attached... (I wonder would Bata people do that... their stuff is alays like Rs***.95 ..any guesses on how much they would have shortchanged the people over all these years??)

What next... soon people will be reluctant to accept 1 Re coins... then Rs 2 coins and then Rs 5 ...Are we heading towards a coin free economy ??? Will there be a day when the coin shall only be used while deciding which team bats first???