A little more than 38 years down the line ,when demonetization of currency notes of denomination Rs.1000/- and above , came about in 1978 , I had landed a Bank job- also my first job- in a suburban branch of Solan , a few months back . A day was fixed to facilitate the banks to exchange such currency notes , if any at the SBOP, Solan, which carried out the government and treasury functions Luckily , the lone note the small branch had with it had been got exchanged a few days back . Since the banks were not open to public transaction that day, for us it was a paid holiday . I made good use of this holiday in watching the movie Dream Girl which was running in a cinema hall at Solan. I had eyed the posters of this movie a few days back but was hesitant to ask for and avail leave only to watch a movie . I could well call it a god sent opportunity, however mundane the matter seems now in retrospect.
Compare this with the Government decision to demonetize the Rs. 500/- and Rs. 1000/- aired the day before yesterday by no less an authority than the PM himself, my only worry was about standing in the long queue to deposit whatever I had of the currency declared defunct as also to have some notes exchanged to meet exigencies. There was a huge rush in the Bank as expected, for depositing the cash and to exchange currency notes . Thanks to benign presence of noble souls who helped me get over the long wait and also guided me to a counter with very small queue , my wife and I were able to unburden ourselves and felt much relieved.
Hats off to the Bank staff who were found attending to customers patiently without losing their cool and nerve, despite having little time to have lunch- and this is going to continue for days together !
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