20 Rupees

Usually, if you get off to a bad start, your entire day is ruined. Sameer doesn’t believe in such things but this one Wednesday, everything seemed to be going wrong.

Sameer woke up late for his exam. He was supposed to reach IBA early and study with his friend, Anam, but that did not seem likely anymore. As he quickly shoved down his breakfast of toast and tea, he realized his clothes weren’t ironed. Pulling on his jeans, he searched for a clean t-shirt, but that very moment, the electricity went. Damn KESC’s scheduled load-shedding! 

As he grabbed his car keys off the computer table, his phone started silently vibrating; Anam was calling him, which meant she had reached IBA and would be furious at his tardiness.  He ignored the call hoping she’d think he was driving. Alas, driving today would not be possible as Sameer’s blue Alto refused to start; the more urgently he turned the key in the ignition, the more the car protested and spluttered. Finally, he gave up and started searching for a rickshaw. No empty rickshaw passed for 5 minutes so he realized he’d have to take the bus and end up missing the study session altogether.

As the G7 came speeding towards him, he raised a hand and jumped on before collapsing in the back seat. Thank God the bus wasn’t overflowing. He pulled out his phone and sent an SMS to Anam indicating that he was running late and how very sorry he was. She didn’t reply. Sameer put the issue out of his mind and pulled out his Financial Institutions and Markets’ textbook. Flicking through the chapter on monetary policy, he was barely conscious of the fact that the bus had stopped and two people were climbing on. Only when he heard raised voices, did he look up from the calculation of the reserve ratio.

An aged, frail woman, who had got on earlier with her adolescent (and by his looks, highly unkempt) grandson, was arguing with the conductor that she never pays the fare for her grandson. The conductor was adamant on getting the fare as the boy was old enough to be charged for it. Sameer shook his head at the strange principles people have and had half-a-mind to pay for the kid just to shut up the old woman. But as she continued screaming and abusing the conductor, Sameer realized the problem was the woman did not have 20 rupees to pay the extra fare. As waves of shock crashed over his head, Sameer sat paralyzed, watching the scene.

Here he was, completely unconcerned about a mere 20 rupees and there she was, fighting till her last breath for it. He tried to imagine what her day must have been like and couldn’t. While he was worried about his car and clothes, she was struggling to make ends meet. The darkness of her life made his day shine like a beacon. He marveled at the disparity that existed around him and couldn’t even enjoy the irony of the situation highlighted by his textbook: the affluent decide the monetary policy in the economy, while the common man neither knows nor cares what the discount rate is since he has no money in his pocket.