The BlacQ Warrior and the Purple Island

Scene 1

Trinnngg.. Trinnnggg...

The shrillness of the alarm clock woke me up...

It is unusually cold and I did a futile attempt to find the alarm clock with the blankets still on.

"But who has set the alarm clock. I normally keep the alarm in my phone"

"Btw, today is Saturday and I couldn't recollect any early work."

It was loud enough to interrupt my thoughts too. For a moment I sympathized with my kids who wakes up every day to this alarm.

I slowly peeped out of the blanket and was a little frightened to see three pairs of eyes staring at me.

"What happened?" I jumped out of the bed.

Dad, Mom and Dimple extended their debit cards to me.

"What happened? Where are you all going, handing over me all these?"

"We are not going anywhere, you are going to the ATM" Dad was once again the strict father after a long time.

"Really? It is still dark out there. What is the time? 5:00am? Have you all gone crazy? "

"Yeah, you are the one who is crazy to be sleeping when the entire India is sleepless over black, white and purple"

That was moms turn, who usually and strongly defends my right to sleep. “You too mom? " I frowned at her

"Honey, your coffee is ready. I have kept a bottle of water and breakfast in your bag"

Dimple shouted from kitchen. "Wow! Yesterday, when I had to go for a match at 6, you told me to lock the door myself and don’t switch on the bedroom lights" I shouted and she ignored.

"At least allow me to brush my teeth and meet my biological needs"

"Don’t waste time, they normally fill ATMs at 6am" Dad looked like having more information than the RBI governor, Thanks to his whatzapp entry. I stared at him.

"Don't show me that face, yesterday I borrowed Rs 100 from Thappa. We have to return it today? Also mom has to go for her checkup. The doctor accept only cash"

"Thappa, who?? The security guard? Really did you borrow money from him?"

"Yeah, I had to. Dhruv wanted some stuff for school and all we had was 500s and 1000s. Thappa volunteered when he saw me arguing with the shopkeeper. He even offered to lend me few hundreds"

"How come he gets it exchanged when the entire country is struggling? Isn't he a Nepal citizen? I thought they need ID proof for the exchange"

"He has more proofs than any of us, Voters ID, PAN card, Driving License.. You name it and he has it. Looks like he hasnt tried for the passport yet"

"Adhiti Devo Bhava!" My friend Mathew is struggling for the past 4 months to get an Aadhar card "

"Ok, we will discuss that later. Now, you get ready and go." Dad showed his frustration. 

The thought of Thappa spending money for my son melted out all my resistance. I set off my journey with my packed bags and google maps for my help to locate all the ATMs in and around."

I wore the pride of a warrior joining my first fight against black money, outside Facebook . "Who cares when it comes for free."

Scene 2

1,2 3,4 I counted the number of closed ATM. If I had the time and patience, I would have painted the word 'closed' in the '24 hrs ATM' illuminated boards"

Finally I found a queue and yes it is leading to an ATM. I parked the vehicle and ran to the end of the queue. Its still 5:45am.

All sleepy eyed people from all caste, creed, gender, age, stood patiently, silently and so disciplined. " Wow! A new India", I thought.

"The last time I stood in such a long queue was for the elections. But it was noisy and undisciplined"

Then one man came out with a purple coloured paper. He couldn't hide his happiness as we tried to hide our jealousy. All heads turned and someone asked him.

"Does it have hundred rupee notes? "

"Yes, but if you need all 100s, you should enter 1900. Else you will get a 2000 note and five hundreds" He shared his wisdom.

"Hmmm, can't he keep quiet?, if everyone does that then we will only be left with 2000." The person behind me murmured.

Ah, there are already 5 people behind me. That helped me to overcome the sadness that there are 25 in front of me.

I pondered over my whatzapp messages and most of them are black & white or purple jokes. It was relaxing, I thanked the creative minds and the forward button"

"We voted for a change and now we are running for change" the person in front of me expressed his frustration though with the help of an internet joke.

It woke up the black-money warrior in me.

"Dear friend, this is a great decision to get rid of the black money and the people who are fighting against our nation. We should be a little patient and support this effort. Don't we spend long time in traffic, don't we pay bribe to pay tax to the government, don't we… "

He interrupted "Sir, you people have credit cards, online accounts, and big monthly salary coming to your account. You can manage without cash or a little bit of cash. But people like us, who get daily wages and in cash neither have money nor work now. Our employers also take advantage of this situation."

"Yes, this is what we want to avoid. The people who exploit people like you and cheat the country by not paying tax. I guess they have to burn all the cash they have now"

"Sir, don't be so silly. Most of them have made smart investments. The rest might have already found ways. Some people already accounted it with pre-dated invoices some are buying gold from temples and many other way have been found already. And they still have time. "

"What happened to the Demolition drive in Bangalore? Some innocent people lost their entire saving of their life, their home. The people who committed the crime, the officials and politicians who helped them, they might be busy converting the money now."

"I don't know whether it is true but I heard that these guys directly deal with RBI and Bank agents for converting cash now"

"But, then ...."

A breaking news saved me from the embarrassment "No more hundreds, only 2000 rupee notes available"

"Oh no! What will I do with a 2000 rupee note? Who will have so much of change?"

"Don't worry sir, you will get enough. Just go to a street vendor by evening. He will have so much of change. These guys are managed by local goons and politicians by night they have to deposit the collections. It runs to lakhs in each areas"

"Or go to next door sports complex. One of my friend works there. He says they accept cash only and in this time of money crunch also their business is worth lakhs"

"Yeah, you are right. Yesterday we ourselves gave them Rs.2400 of cash."

"Do you think they are paying tax or accounting the money, sir? "

"No, that means purple is already turning to black"


"What about the schools? You people pay in lakhs. Do they account all the money they get? "

"Sir, you, I and everyone are creating black money and this money defines the system and politics." I was taken aback by his wisdom and a little embarrassed that he is addressing me sir.

I almost took a decision to exit the queue and boycott any payment for unaccounted money. But the face of Thappa - the Nepali citizen with Indian documents , the 'cash only doctor, the school and the three pair of eyes flashed in my head.

And I marched forward, to the purple Island - with a tinge of grey already.