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The Chaar Aana is gone. Though the cute, round nickel had lost the meaning of its existence many years ago, it officially went out of use recently following an order from the RBI. There was some mourning on the social networking sites, but most of it was silly jest. Seriously, I don’t remember having seen a 25 p coin in a long time, let alone using one. Even the beggars accept no less than a one-rupee coin, that too with annoying nonchalance. All you can get in one rupee is a photocopy, a shampoo sachet, a pack of dhaana dal, or a cheap candy. Till a few years ago my wife used to usurp a handful of kothmeer and hari mirch (coriander and green chilly) from the vegetable vendor in exchange of one rupee, not any more. The truth is that along with the quarter, the fifty paise coin must go too, because it hardly buys us anything on its own, and unnecessarily increases the weight of the wallet (Imagine, ten 50 p coins make a princely sum of five rupees). And when it is needed to be paid as a fraction of the total amount, say, Rs. 12.50, one either pays Rs 12 or 13, without either party raising as much as an eyebrow. If not today, the 50 p coin will someday have its doom, as would the one-rupee coin. The only people who don’t really mind the existence of such coins are my doctor colleagues who attend to small children who have swallowed them, panicking their parents no end. These doctors sometimes duly return the retrieved coin and charge a bagful in return. At other times they charge the bagful and ask the parents to ‘keep an eye’ on their children’s potty every morning till they find it there. Surely, not an enviable chore.
Having said this, I’d emphasize here that people of my age would have at one time considered this now obsolete 25 p coin to be no less than a fortune. Everyone would have a list of things this chavanni could buy in that era. But let bygones be bygones. In fact, with the on-going rate of inflation, I think we now need Rs.100 and Rs.500 coins. What do you think? Let’s flip a coin to that.
