The other day there was a sad news item for me that said India Mint will no longer mint the 25 paise coins (called 'pavala' in our lingo)...They are being phased out.
Sad because I happen to have one such coin in my pant pocket for the last decade or so...other coins may have fled and been replaced but this one remained there changing from pant to pant...maybe one day I can auction it to a crazy numismatist.
But, seriously, there were two big issues with this lovely coin:
1. A decade or more ago, the ubiquitous India Post Card was costing 25 paise. And then our Papa Ambani declared that he dreams of a day when poor people can call their friends and relatives on their cell phones at the cost of a post card. I wish he were alive today...the post card now costs, I think, 50 paise, while the call cost on some 'offers' could be less than 5 paise per minute.
2. The late lamented CM of AP, YSR, launched a bold and popular scheme for the benefit of the much abused village womenfolk. He arranged for them a 'pavala vaddi' that translates to '3% interest'...you can work it out yourself or take the help of the local Kabuliwala of Rabin Babu. Now, the 'pavala' has gone the way of YSR, sadly, and I suspect, politics being the nasty game it is, his 'pavala vaddi' scheme (or scam?) will follow suit.
British are funny folks; and the most funny part of their psyche is their Class System.
While they were ruling India, there were as many as 4 classes in their trains in India (apart from their saloons): First Class, Second Class, Inter Class and Third Class. I did travel by their Inter Class and Gandhiji by their Third Class.
In our childhood, we had to mug up their absolutely crazy coin system...here is a sample:
1/4 farthing, 1/3 farthing, 1/2 farthing, farthing, half-penny, penny, two-pence, three-pence, groat, six-pence, shilling, florin, half-crown, crown, sovereign (pound) and guinea.
Why is it crazy?
Because, for example, sovereign is 20 shillings, while the superstitious guinea is 21 shillings...ok?
And they tried their 'level' best (what is 'level' about it, I never could fathom) to introduce an equally formidable coinage in their British India...that was the starting point of my downfall in mathematics.
We had this solid Rupee. It was very heavy and could tear the owner's cotton pocket if he had one of each...I mean a Rupee coin as well as a pant.
The Rupee was round and made of pure silver. Here my metallurgical cousin of BHU would scold me that there is nothing called a 'pure' metal. Anyway, it was pure enough.
This basic thing had in it 64 pice. Each pice was round and made of pure copper (sorry Brother!).
Going upwards, there was a 2- pice coin, and a 4-pice coin called 1 Anna which was round enough but had some fancy corrugations on its circumference, I don't know why. Then there was a 2- anna coin which was not round; it was sort of square or pentagon or may even be hexagon, I forget. This was called affectionately: 'beda' or 'paraka' depending on which district of the forthcoming (and likely to be hindgoing) AP. The beauty of this coin is that there used to be carts carrying all sorts of sundry items from pocket combs to spoons dangling from their columns, each priced one 'beda'...pick up any, no bargaining please!
Then we had the 4-anna coin that is our 'pavala' that was round and sweet and the 8-anna coins that were as rare as Associate Professors at IIT during my time there.
Going downwards, we had 1/3-pice and 2/3 pice.
During the war, when the losing British wanted copper badly for their guns, I suppose, the half-anna coins went annular. My Father was using them as washers in his tool-kit.
I think that is as much British craziness as we could get.
Then, Nehrujee decided that we should start going decimal and started issuing 'naya paise' each of which was 1/100 of one Rupee (that had by then as much silver as my brain has math).
Now, the fun starts...there were elaborate conversion tables issued and dangling from the necks of bus conductors. This is formidable task for any math giant...try making up 'equivalence charts' between 1/64 and 1/100...I have seen fisticuffs between bus conductors and University Students over the fractional difference and who should 'round it up' and for whose benefit.
Britain followed India, for once, and went decimal in their coins...an achievement indeed.
But their former colony that declared Independence and called itself the USA went decimal long before us in their coinage.
But they are doggedly sticking to their 'miles' and perhaps 'gallons' too...while we are more progressive and use liters and right-hand-drive.
I now come to my lifelong bugbear...it is called Units and Dimensions in Physics and its First Chapter.
We had fps, cgs, MKS, SI, esu, emu, Gaussian, Heaviside-Lorentz, rationalized, irrrationalized, natural, artificial, atomic...and boring stuff.
And it was my misfortune that I had to learn and teach EM from Starling to Sakurai.
Interconversion of Units was one of the reasons I quit Physics at the first excuse.
Nowadays in Hyderabad, I see everywhere on every Counter the placard:
"Bring Change!"
But from where?
The Banks have gone bankrupt in change.
The only source of 'change' is the 'solicitors' of coins sitting outside every temple.
I have seen one woman selling coins worth hundreds of rupees to the Medical Shop Dealer at the rate of 1 Rupee = 90 Paise.
Very enticing Profession for Unemployed Pensioners!
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Barter System
In 2005 when I first landed in this crazy city, a cup of tea in a wayside tea-stall cost Rs 1.50. When I tendered a 2 Rupee coin, the boy 'manning' the counter nonchalantly returned a toffee to me in lieu of the 50 paise coin.
The next day, after I had my cup of tea, I gave him a one-rupee coin and his toffee back.
He dropped the toffee in his coin counter and then realized what went on, looked at my stony face breaking into a smile, and reciprocated it.
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