Demonetization - Black, White and many shades of Grey

In democracy, there is a strange feeling when it turns out that the person or motion you did not support has won. A feeling that resonates among thousands of Americans today after Trump’s triumphant win. Many Indians had similar feeling after the last general election and more recently after the demonetization of currency. As a result of that they are still burning inside with frustration.

Let us not take a bipartite approach to life or belief as Mr. George W Bush’s dictated once upon a time ..  “you are with us or with the terrorists”, he said. Let’s look at the bigger picture and try to accept the good even if it is with the customary “Umm!” and “Uuuh!”

Life offers multiple shades of grey between black and white! One doesn’t necessarily has to sweat in making THE decision as there are abundant opportunities to be selective while cherry picking own likes and dislikes.

Now that enough bytes and energy has been expended in support, opposition, criticism and debates on various aspects of  demonetization, it’s time in my opinion to accept Demonetization as a reality. Com’on it's not going to go away .. no matter how much inconvenience or discomfort it might cause, the country is abiding by it. It would therefore be nice of the economists, analysts, academicians and so called experts to bring in some suggestion to improve the implementation process rather than being judgmental, critics or simply sarcastic commentators.

Even one optimistic layman like me would not doubt that the cash crunch will remain in the short to mid term and perhaps the economy will also shrink to a certain degree. But then people will also start getting used to the new way of life with less cash dealings. It is therefore time to shift focus from wasteful discussions and embrace the new style of functioning. History has taught us that every change brings along new opportunities and this time it will be no different. 

So Rise and Shine people, let's rejig our lifestyle as we explore  the new opportunities that are going to unfold and be prepared to grab those as they surface. If you are of the opinion that thousands of crores collected by the banks will be given away only to rich businessmen or large corporate, you are going to miss an opportunities to start your own enterprise just by  being prejudiced.

A few points to consider :

• If you think that Indians will not cope up with bank cards or E-commerce, think about mobile phones and remember our life during the past decades.
• If you think our government will not succeed with cash regulations, remember how  merrily we smoked in our planes, trains and public buses not so long ago.
• If you feel a grudge that few selected industrial houses were tipped off about demonetization, you will be naive to think they keep unlimited cash stashed in a pit or inside a cupboard. Their money work and grow outside and that's why they are rich.
• If you think that dirty money is a myth, then look at the images below of desperately destroyed banknotes.