Suleiman and Anwar join bank queue
Suleiman Khan blinked in the early morning Delhi sun. He took a deep breath. The smog hit him like a dense blanket of smoke.
Anwarbhai was right, he thought to himself, as he maneouvred his luggage trolley out of Indira Gandhi International Airport. Delhi can be injurious to health.
His mobile rang. It was Anwar Sheikh. “Suleiman! Welcome to Delhi. I would have come to pick you up from the airport, but I’m stuck standing in a queue at my bank.”
“So early in the morning, Anwarbhai?” Suleiman glanced at the imitation Rolex watch he’d bought during his last visit to India. It was 7.45am. “Do banks open this early in India?”
Anwar’s voice crackled hoarsely over the phone. “Suleiman, I’ve queued up at my bank since 6 this morning. The surgical strike our Prime Minister has launched on black money is killing us.”
Suleiman was surprised. "But I heard your finance minister Arun Jaitley saying on TV the other day that the queues were shortening, everything was under control.”
Anwar groaned over the phone: “Look Suleiman, just grab a cab and go over to my place. I’ll join you as soon as I can deposit my old Rs 1,000 notes into my bank account.”
“Okay, Anwarbhai, I’ll go to your house and fix myself a cup of tea. Come soon.”
Suleiman waved a taxi down. He was in India on his annual winter holiday. He had heard back home in Saudi Arabia about the demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes. At the airport foreign exchange counter he was careful to exchange his Saudi riyals for the new Rs 2,000 notes.
The cab fare to Anwar’s house in south Delhi came to Rs 400. Luckily, the driver had change in 100 rupee notes which he offered Suleiman with a smile.
Things can’t be that bad if even the cab driver seems happy, Suleiman reflected as he settled down in Anwar’s living room, waiting for his friend to arrive.
Two hours later Anwar walked in, looking careworn. The two friends hugged and then Anwar launched into a bitter tirade.
“I tell you, Suleiman, this time (Narendra) Modi has gone too far! He’s ruined us!”
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| “Anwarbhai,” Suleiman said, “this is what Kejriwal should fix first.” (Photo: India Today) |
“How so, Anwarbhai?” asked Suleiman, bewildered by the mixture of anger, bitterness and weariness in his friend’s voice. “I thought the demonetisation scheme is a success. Bill Gates has praised it. So has Deepak Parekh. Even Narayana Murthy! Short-term pain for long-term gain...”
Anwar cut him off mid-sentence. “That’s all rubbish, Suleiman. Do you know how much my political friends have lost in black? Crores! All gone. Overnight! Some political parties in Delhi, Punjab and Bengal don’t have enough cash to pay voters in state elections and by-polls due very soon.”
“Pay voters?” Suleiman asked, puzzled. “Why would they need to do that?”
Anwar shook his head in mock exasperation. “My dear Suleiman, you’ve been away in Saudi for too long. In India every political party pays voters in cash or kind.”
Suleiman smiled as he thought to himself: in Saudi we don’t have elections so no worries about paying voters.
To Anwar he said aloud: “I hear Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee want a rollback and Arun Jaitley has refused point blank.”
Anwar’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, Kejriwal and Mamata are right. This move has hurt the poor and brought the cash economy to a standstill.”
Suleiman turned thoughtful. “I hear though that Pakistan is as upset as some Congress, TMC and AAP leaders seem to be. Their counterfeit notes, which were used to pay stone-pelters in Kashmir, have become worthless overnight.”
Anwar looked quizzically at Suleiman who was now hitting his stride. “I also saw Ghulam Nabi Azad on TV comparing demonetisation to the Pakistani terror strike on Uri which killed 20 of our jawans. The Pakistani media reported Ghulambhai’s statement, made in Parliament, with the same glee they had reported Kejriwal’s doubts over India’s surgical strike on Pakistan’s terror launchpads on September 29.”
Anwar shook his head wearily. “Okay Suleiman, let’s go to my bank tomorrow morning, I need to deposit some more old notes. You’ll see the chaos for yourself. Even our very upright Chief Justice of India has warned of riots if the government doesn’t get its act together.”
Joining the queue
Early next morning, the two friends drove down to Anwar’s bank. Expecting a wait of a few hours in a serpentine queue, both had packed a box of biscuits and a bottle of mineral water.
As they entered the bank, Suleiman nudged Anwar, pointing ahead. “Look Anwarbhai, there’s the queue.”
“It had around ten depositors standing in an orderly line. Within 20 minutes Anwar was at the counter. He deposited Rs 20,000 in old 1,000 rupee notes and turned to look at Suleiman with a trace of embarrassment.
“Today seems an exception,” he said sheepishly. “I believe the queues in villages and small towns are huge. And ATMs routinely run out of cash. Dozens have died waiting for their own money. This move will spell the end of Modi.”
Just then a TV camera crew walked into the bank. The reporter thrust a mike aggressively under the nose of a simply dressed senior citizen standing quietly in the queue: “Sir, do you think the surgical strike on black money is actually a surgical strike on the poor?”
The senior citizen levelled an even gaze at the TV reporter. “Most of the people here in the queue seem happy. They support the move. I don’t know about the villages. There is a problem in implementation despite what the finance minister says. But things are improving gradually.”
The TV reporter seemed disappointed at the response. He spotted Suleiman and thrust the mike towards him. “What do you think , sir?”
Suleiman glanced at Anwar who stood by impassively. “Well, I’m from Saudi Arabia,” Suleiman began tentatively. “If I criticised the ruler there I’d be in jail or get 100 lashes. Here everyone condemns the prime minister, Kejriwal even calls him awful names. If he did that to the ruler in Saudi, he’d lose his head - literally.”
The TV reporter was livid. "Don’t compare us to Saudi. Just tell me what you think of the government’s handling of this so-called war on black money.”
Suleiman looked around the bank. The queue had since shortened to just five people, two of them women. They seemed relaxed. He shrugged at the TV reporter: “It looks as if the war on black money is being won.”
The TV reporter managed a forced smile. It wasn’t what his producer back at the studio wanted to hear.
Anwar put his arm around Suleiman’s shoulder and led him to the bank’s exit door. “You’ll never improve, Suleiman, never,” he smiled good-naturedly. “By the way, that TV reporter is a well-known, highly respected anchor.”
As they left the bank, the smog outside hit them. “Anwarbhai,” Suleiman said, “this is what Kejriwal should fix first.”
Anwar coughed in agreement as the dark haze enveloped them.