A couple of months ago, we had to make an offering at our village temple. The stipulation was straightforward- my daughter had to take a fistful of coins in both hands and make the offering to the deity. The day prior to the temple visit, I tried to procure these coins- just enough to fill those tiny palms.
It may be easier to stumble upon a Gupta Age coin by digging the ground, but there are no modern India coins anymore. Even beggars have moved on. Rummaging through the closets and shelves at home, I found no coins. If at all a coin peeped through the rubble, it was either an American cent or a Dubai Dirham stuck from a previous trip. It was unclear if the village deity accepted foreign currency.
Thereafter, I tried the neighbourhood shops- small tea shops, paan-outlets, grocery stores, and of course malls. The reaction was the same from all shopkeepers, "Sir! This is UPI age sir! This is AI age! Coins? Coins? Are you a relic from a previous Stone Age?" Desperation increased by the hour. How are we going to get these coins, that too, two fistfuls? Sticking out a 500 rupee note at each shop, I tried to plead my case, even if it was a bad bargain, "Do teen coin de de baba, aap ke baal-bachche khush rahenge! Do teen coin de de baba...!" Thankfully, some good Samaritans obliged and saved the day.
We are yet to uncover the long-term consequences of this coinless age. It has not sunk in completely. Take Cricket. How will the two captains start the game if there is no coin to toss? The romance of Cricket will be totally killed without the toss ritual. Coins gave wealth a fitting imagery. When Tenali Rama retorted with a witty answer, the delighted king rewarded him with a bag of coins. It made an impact. Imagine if Krishnadevaraya said- "Nice answer Tenali Rama! I will now make a UPI transfer to your account! It just wouldn't cut it, would it? When Bhadrachala Ramadas was imprisoned at Golconda Fort for siphoning away the Nawab's money, Rama and Lakshmana appeared in person and returned the money in coins. Those coins are still available. Imagine if Rama had to ask for the Nawab's UPI ID! Adi Shankara pleaded on behalf of the poor lady, who had nothing to offer, except an overripe gooseberry. His prayer melted Goddess Mahalakshmi so much so She rained coins for an entire muhurtam (48 minutes). No such miracle is possible anymore. Magicians are also an impoverished lot- those tricks centred on materializing coins, and getting them to disappear, in the blink of an eye, are suddenly irrelevant.
As children, coins were a constant companion. Every child carried a "piggybank". Each time it inserted a coin, earned from a guest's good-will, the child's eyes twinkled. It visualized a future- a future where these jingling coins would swell and multiply in the pig's belly, so much so, one day, the entire room would be filled with its choicest toys! Will a UPI transfer give the child a similar kick? At school, Sridhar made some of the most innovative sketches in his drawing book. Placing a coin underneath the paper, he vigorously stroked the pencil over the paper. Soon, the coin came alive- complete with its denomination and peripheral designs. The solar system in the geography note-book could never have been drawn without coins. The 1-rupee coin was always the sun, the 25 paise coin was the earth.
With the depletion of coins, life has been robbed of all dramatics. Back then, life's greatest decision, "to be an engineer or a doctor", was made by flipping a coin. Bollywood's biggest blockbuster "Sholay"- its entire plot centred on a coin, a double-headed coin, a secret that was revealed at the end of the film. Try using the UPI idea for Sholay- it will fall flat, with mud all over its face! And what about those tacky expressions in English, "Heads I win, tails you lose!"?
Thankfully, every dark cloud has a silver lining. As a youngster, the topic on "Probability" in Mathematics was my eternal bugbear. "If I have 3 coins and I tossed them, what is the probability, that I will get 3 heads?" What kind of a question is this? I pondered over this question endlessly. It just didn't make any sense. I felt like answering, "It depends on the person, how lucky he is! No?" What else can I say?
Thankfully, we have moved on....moved on from coins to UPI. The world is a better place. There are no coins, no heads, no tails, and surely, no more Probability questions.
