Many moods of money mattersLong and short of queues

Subhajoy Roy and Chandreyee Chatterjee, TT, 12 November 2016: The government's decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 has led to long queues outside banks and ATMs. Saturday, too, was no different. Metro spoke to many people waiting to either deposit or exchange money. While some said they were willing to bear the hassle for the greater good, some questioned the rationale behind the central government move and others made most of their waiting time .

AYE

Rajib Pal, an engineer with a consultancy giant in New Town, batted for the central government move.

I left my home in Keyatala around 8.30am on Saturday. Two ATM kiosks in Golpark were closed, but the one in Dover Lane was open and there were only two people waiting outside.

I fully support the central government's decision to demonetise Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. It will hurt terror funding and bring down realty prices in the long run because much of the black money gets invested in gold and real estate.

The black money that has been invested in real estate can no longer be used... so prices are bound to come down.

I remember a civic engineer was arrested in Bally with crores of unaccounted for cash (over Rs 20 crore) stashed in his house. This step will affect such people. Either the money they hoard at home will turn into scrap or they have to come clean and declare the money they have hoarded and pay tax for it.

I have been buying grocery from departmental stores using Paytm over the past two days. I buy fish on Sundays; tomorrow I will buy some with the money I withdrew today (Saturday).

NAY

Javed Alam , a tailor from Adi Ballygunge, made no bones about his misgiving.

We get paid on Saturdays at the shop where I work. But this week, my owner paid us on Thursday in 500 and 1,000 rupee notes and asked me to get them exchanged at a bank.

Some managed to get the notes exchanged over the past two days. I decided to try my luck today (Saturday). Since morning, I have been to more than 15 banks, everywhere there were long queues, at least 50 people in each.

I realised it would take me more than an hour to get the notes exchanged. I tried banks in every possible area in search of a shorter queue.

In one bank, I waited close to an hour only to hear an official announce they had run out of cash. Finally, I managed to get Rs 4,000 from a Syndicate Bank branch in Sunny Park.

The government should think of people like us. We are the common people. We do not have any black money. But the move to get rid of black money has left us inconvenienced.

Our shop has been closed for the past three days because we cannot buy threads and buttons without cash. The wholesaler says, "how many people will I give material on credit?" He has a point, too.

ADDA

I spent much of Friday night on my feet. Not partying and dancing, but ATM hopping from Gariahat to the Ruby rotary and down the Prince Anwar Shah connector to Jadavpur police station and back.

Most ATMs were shut. Those open didn't have money. The first functional ATM I spotted was an SBI one at the petrol pump near the Ruby crossing. The long queue prompted us to look for one with fewer people outside, only to return.

It was around 11.50pm when I joined the queue behind 10 people. In no time, there were 15 others behind me and I sent up a prayer of thanks that I had got there before them.

The smiling guard patiently answered the same questions from everyone - was there enough cash (yes) and would we have to break up the Rs 2,000 we could withdraw to get Rs 100 notes (it's all in Rs 100 notes).

I expected people in the queue to be cranky. Instead, it seemed like everyone was at a picnic, albeit one where mosquitoes were having a feast too. Information was exchanged about ATMs. Politics - local, national and international - was discussed. Jokes were cracked. Even those taking longer and withdrawing money with multiple cards were spared angry words.

I had met a couple of people in the line at other ATMs we had tried out and we greeted each other like longtime friends. Cash withdrawn, everyone left with a goodbye waved or an " aschhi". There is still something definitely right about this city.