Note, the Change..!!

The lot of currency notes is a grim one..From the moment they come out of the security press they begin to attract dirt and grime..And though few would deny their worth, each time they spread their wings, we hear sanctimonious voices warning us against decline in values in society..

Take the latest case..Someone shaped them into a garland—okay, a biggish one—and people made a mountain out of a mala hill..A garland of greenbacks or pinkbacks for that matter, may sound like a malapropism but to see any malevolence in it is to miss the good for the greed..

The point that everyone seems to be overlooking is that a note-mala is a rare innovation, a piece of art from the Hindi-artland..It is a pity that the inventor is a resident Indian..Had it been done in the US, the garland-maker would have already patented it and sold it for a million bucks..

Today, everything and everyone is trying to break out of the set moulds..Thus, u have newspapers doling out entertainment, cell phones working as camera and gaming devices, film stars taking management classes and yoga guru’s nursing political ambitions..How fair is it to expect a currency bill to go on playing the role of a legal tender??

When u look at it, there a good many reasons to choose currency notes over flowers as mala material..Flowers, for all their swollen pride, r not such unmixed blessings..They carry pollen—a known source of allergy..What kind of welcome would it be if the garland sends the dear leader into a paroxysm of sneezes??The ready answer is this: delete flowers and insert currency notes..It is not an option but a scientific fact that very few leaders in any walk of life r allergic to currency notes..

Ever since they broke free of the gold standard, printing currency notes is the cheapest thing to do..On the other hand flowers don’t exactly grow on trees..From their cultivation to retaining their freshness to their transportation to distant locales cost a bushel..After all, what is their use after being garlanded to the dear leader?? Mere biodegradable garbage..But look at currency notes..They continue to retain all their value even after they have been used up in a garland..

Of late, Indian currency notes have also shed their funeral greyish look..Now they come in bright colours..In fact our 1K currency note is rosier than a rose..Fold it tastefully and it can grace the button hole of ur jacket and throw in a few 500 rupee greenbacks around them and u have an elegant ensemble that few would decline..One could even recommend exchange of a basket of currency on special occasions..

Going further, one could even suggest that we develop our own brand of ikebana using currency notes rather than fumbling with flowers all the time!!And for that matter y not indulge in a kind of Indian origami using a single thousand-rupee-bill to showcase one’s talent and creativity??

Fairness demands that we allow currency notes entry into other areas reserved for flowers until now..But unfortunately we know that none of this is going to happen because we have a vocal lobby of those who r fixated only on the familiar in everything..How can anyone satisfy those who would accept nothing but ‘news’ in the ‘breaking news’, cricket in IPL and flowers in a garland??

Jaishree Ram,

Prats..