People are pleased by no aroma more than the alluring, exhilarating and almost intoxicating smell of fresh, crisp currency notes. A professional friend of mine wagers he can smell a new bank note from a mile against the wind, inspiring him to chase it like a camel running after a carrot dangling a yard away from its greedily expanding and contracting nostrils! If money makes the mare go, it must be the prompting smell of new currency notes or the come-hither chink of coins. By the same token, it cannot be denied that pelf becomes dirty when long in possession of gombeen men like Shylock.
Money, like art, is capable of bridging the gaps between sections of a society and, for their attractive sight and inviting smell, currency notes have a ready and most desirable sociability. A high-caste Brahman would not resist the temptation of grabbing currency notes from the hands of an untouchable Harijan without feeling the necessity of giving them a cleansing dip in cold water.
Paper money is respected and revered because it bears the images of national heroes and emblems. For a logical reason, if not an emotional one, bank notes deserve our ‘Thank you’. If they were not here, we would still be carrying cumbersome pieces of precious metal in defenceless bags risking bandits, thugs and waylayers. Well, such might also be the case with paper money which is as good as gold, but it can be transported without fear of theft or robbery in the form of crossed or traveller’s cheques which are also called paper money. So you see, paper money gives us all the imaginable advantages except destruction by fire and flood.
Bank notes have a memorable history, if you would care to respect them and treat them kindly for the sake of dear history, if nothing else.
For the first time, paper money was issued in England by the ‘Bank’ of England in 1694 in rather peculiar circumstances because Englishmen happen to be rather fond of their traditions. Perhaps the word ‘bank’ had a different meaning in those days from what we know it today. Banks, as we know them, did not exist in those days. In that year, the goldsmiths who were the authorised and chief money-lenders of the country, in return for lending their capital in gold to the government to the tune of 1,200,000 pounds sterling, were granted a Charter. It gave these goldsmith money-lenders the right to call themselves the Bank of England, although bank accounts and transactions by cheque were still a far cry. (Earlier on, the Medici family in Italy was the most powerful monetary institution in Europe, sought-after even by kings and queens in the 15th century).
The terms of this Charter were that the government shall guarantee the loan for 1,200,000 pounds, pay a certain rate of interest on it and, because the money-lenders had parted with their working capital in gold, the government will issue an equal amount in promissory notes to be used in trade and commerce. These promissory notes were covered by the original 1,200,000 pounds sterling, owed by the government, and were honoured throughout the country in ready exchange of goods and services. Later on, these very promissory notes came to be popularly known as bank notes.
The smartness of this deal was remarkable. The money-lending goldsmiths went home that day in 1694 with the amount doubled free, gratis and for nothing! Not only did they own the gold lent out to the government, but also a further 1,200,000 pounds in paper money! Since then paper money has been a boon. For ready exchange in the busy marketplace, it is as good as gold itself and more convenient to carry and to strike bargains far and near in the country.
Does it not deserve to be held in esteem, kept in clean condition, unbruised, unblemished and unmolested? But why must most of our own currency notes look so exhausted, belaboured, fatigued, ungainly and uglified, so much disinclined to exert themselves, so weak in value, so much overwhelmed by languor and lassitude, looking so self-defeated, sulking, torn and tattered, tattooed and dog-eared? In their utter feebleness, they appear to crumble down any moment. They present an objectionable and undesirable appearance, over-written with all sorts of scribbling in all sorts of inks, over-stamped and ill-smelling, autographed, heliographed, signed and counter-signed by careless users who apparently take pleasure in treating currency notes as note-paper for reminders!
What causes such horrible acrimony and abuse to such good-looking, smart and well-turned out currency notes as ours certainly are? They are miserably stuffed in all kinds of places and in all sorts of ways — rolled, creased, double-folded and crumpled — and they are dealt out with malice, animus and malignity. They are mercilessly rubbed down between the thumb and the index finger moistened with oral wetness until they are fully molested in every possible manner. Used as tissue paper, these respectable currency notes bear irremovable stains of paan, tea, grime and what not.
Perhaps, one important reason for this cheerless state of our otherwise cheerful currency notes is the conspicuous absence of coins to keep them helpful company. Most other countries are still proud of their minted coins — coppers and pennies, farthings and cents, dimes and nickels, krones, pesetos and whatever they are. Reasonably enough, coins are everywhere employed for heavy day-to-day shopping. They certainly form a negligible proportion of the total money in circulation but, most importantly, they gladly take upon themselves much of the strain of frequent exchange from hand to hand, leaving currency notes in a respectable, dignified shape. It is to be wondered why such useful coins were allowed to make good their escape from the commercial scene in our country, leaving the currency notes to bear the whole burnt of the battle in the bazzar.
Oh! The pitiful state of our poor, ill-treated and over-worked currency notes! They appear to be once a wholesome fruit from which the juice has been sucked out to the last drop and the rest left as residual dross. Bagasse! This could also be the reason for much unnecessary buying, waste of good money and spiralling prices. People would hurry to get rid of dirty and damaged currency notes as soon as possible before they become totally unacceptable. Prices and bills, which were rounded off to the nearest rupee, are now rounded off to the nearest ten or even twenty rupees.
Chrematistics shows that money value emerges when people begin treating their good money with respect and dignity, that genuinely prosperous people know the intrinsic value of their money and treat it with respect and care. They put it to higher purposes and achievements. They respect and value it for its real power, and they guard it against carelessness and disrespect, knowing that Providence wisely withdraws the extra sums of money from disrespectful hands, and lets them clutch the begging bowls, which God forbid.
People are pleased by no aroma more than the alluring, exhilarating and almost intoxicating smell of fresh, crisp currency notes. A professional friend of mine wagers he can smell a new bank note from a mile against the wind, inspiring him to chase it like a camel running after a carrot dangling a yard away from its greedily expanding and contracting nostrils! If money makes the mare go, it must be the prompting smell of new currency notes or the come-hither chink of coins. By the same token, it cannot be denied that pelf becomes dirty when long in possession of gombeen men like Shylock.
