Melted Moments

Don’t read this with your eyes. See it with your heart. Cos, this is our story……

A moon silver Swift which was being driven at 80Kmph on the KBR park road along the jubilee hills pulled over to the left extreme and came to a standstill after the tyres were locked by the disc brakes.

A few minutes back….

‘Akhil, I want an ice-cream’ Meghana said. I looked at my watch and it was 0100 hrs past midnight. ‘Now?’ I asked. ‘Yes, now… ‘She said. I grabbed the keys on the table and ……

‘I want mango bar…. No… choco bar… no… I think I will go for cornetto…. Hmm.. I don’t know.. I am not able to choose….’ Meghana said.

‘Why don’t you have all the three…’ I said looking at Meghana’s face. They were still sitting in the car and Meghana moved her gaze from the left window and looked at him, ‘So that my teeth get spoiled ….’ And Akhil continued, ‘…. And they will be extracted and you will look like an old woman and you will be stammering and at some point of time, you will stop this blabbering and peace will return to my life…’ I said.

‘Blabbering aaa… peace aaa…. ‘She said even as she hit on my chest before I caught her hands and laughed out loud.

I have been married to Meghana for the past four years. To me, she’s the most beautiful girl I have ever seen or I will ever see. After my mom, perhaps my life mostly revolved around Meghana. Her beauty, her prudence, her loving and caring nature and above all her beautiful smile which seemed to have lighted up my life, all made the world around me look beautiful. And the way I treat her like a two year old kid, makes her feel so secure in my hands.

Every night, I have to feed her food with the spoon running behind her or else she starts crying like a baby. Every night I have to wish her good night by planting a kiss on her forehead else she wouldn’t go to sleep. Every morning she wakes up kissing me, else she feels that her day’s gone for a toss. And every moment she wants me to say ‘I Love You’ to her else she feels miserably alone.

‘Akhil, you know why I need you to love me so much…?’ she asked and there was a pause for a while, ‘Maximum we may live for another 50 years, with god’s grace, and obviously, not more than that. After those 50 years, we will leave our bodies and our souls will merge with the almighty. As a soul, I won’t have any mind and so I don’t think we can love each other so much then. So I need you to default love me so much now.’

‘Every moment I spend with you is precious, every breath I take I am reminded of you, every heart beat makes me love you more and more’

‘A day will come Akhil, when you and I will die. And that day, if we look back at the time we spent together, it’s nothing. Believe me, you will know that we have never spent so much time. You will think that it was yesterday or day before yesterday that you married me. And that you want to spend more time with me because you will feel that we haven’t spent any time together’

‘Life is ephemeral. All these moments of love will melt down. All these feelings of the heart will die from within body. And if you turn back and look at our life, you will see lot of fights, quarrels, loathe….’

‘And that day when I am 60 or 70 years old, I don’t want to feel that I have wasted some precious moments which would then mean a lot to me. I want to enjoy each and every moment with you Akhil, I won’t ask you for anything more…’

‘You know why I wake you up at midnight and ask me to take you for an ice-cream? It’s not that if I don’t eat my ice-cream, heavens will fall down or earth will break apart. I want to see the love in your eyes, whenever I say, we’ll go to have an ice-cream. I want to play with you even at this extra hour of the midnight. I want to feel your love at all points of the time as long as I am alive..’

‘What have I done to you Meghana… why do you love me so much…’ there were tears in my eyes even as I asked her.

‘Akhil, to a child, its parents are everything. Why do the parents love their kid? Why can’t they rear him and later leave him like most animals do? This is where the human race has diversified itself from other species on earth. That extra ability to think, that extra ability to love is the answer for the question. Some one who’s given me birth and bring me up, I have loved them so much, you are some one with whom I have shared my everything, my life, my body and my soul, and some one with whom I am supposed to spend the rest of my life, isn’t it evident that I should love you equally well or even more’

That moment my heart beat stopped. My eyelid slowly dropped blocking my vision. There was nothing around me. The whole world seemed blank. And then Meghana held my hand. And my heart started to beat again. And I opened my eyes and saw the world around me. It looked beautiful. Never before have I seen such a wonderful place to live. The milieu was teeming with love.

I just pulled her close to my heart. And gave her the best hug in all these years since I was married to her. I kissed on her forehead, her cheeks her lips and again on her forehead… I knew I wouldn’t get this time again. Never again.

They say that everyone is born for a specific purpose. I don’t know why I was born till this moment. But then I realized that making my wife happy and loving her so much is one of my purposes.

I prayed to god that time should stop at this point. I just fast forwarded time and I could see her and me walking along the same road hand in hand. The road to that point is very much in my hands. I am going to enjoy each and every precious moment with her.

Finally, the day has dawned and she left me. My Meghana left me after loving me so much for 50 long years. 50 long years, no way, it was more than a fleeting transience, just as Meghana told me. I have enjoyed all these years with her, but the human mind asks for more. It’s never satisfied. I wish I had hundred such lives to spend with her. Perhaps, that would also be insufficient.

And yes, the purpose of my life… because of Meghana’s love, I understood what humanity means, I understood why we need to help others, why human being is some special species…

More than three-fourths of the money I had earned was donated in charity not only for the upliftment of my fellow beings but also for my fellow creatures.

My message to everybody would be, ‘Love your wife, love your parents, and love your fellow beings. Strive for their upliftment and also care for your fellow creatures… Man is something special. He’s changed the face of earth. Leave behind hate, detest and loathe, and see the world through your eyes and you will know how beautifully God has created this heaven for us…’

A metallic black X-4 concept car which was being driven at 80Kmph on the KBR park road along the jubilee hills pulled over to the left extreme and came to a standstill after the tyres were locked by the disc brakes.

A few minutes back….

‘Akhil, I want an ice-cream’ Meghana said. I looked at my watch and it was 0100 hrs past midnight. ‘Now?’ I asked. ‘Yes, now… ‘She said. I grabbed the keys on the table and ……

‘I want mango bar…. No… choco bar… no… I think I will go for cornetto…. Hmm.. I don’t know.. I am not able to choose….’ Meghana, my granddaughter said. My daughter named her daughter in the fond memory of my wife. Meghana, the name I love the most….

‘Grandpa, your ice-cream is melting down…’ Meghana said even when I was reminded of those melted moments with Meghana, my wife.

:- Sanjeev Siva -:

(Writer)

This is one of my all time best stories forwarded through email. I hope you also like the story

Read more

Upgrade At Your Own Risk

Girl Friend Upgrade

Dear Tech Support Team:

Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 5.0 to Wife 1.0.

I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child-processes that took up a lot of space and valuable resources.

In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activities.

Applications such as BachelorNights 10.3, Football 5.0, BeerWithBuddies 7.5, and Outings 3.6 no longer run, crashing the system whenever selected.

I can't seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications. I'm thinking about going back to Girlfriend 5.0, but the ' uninstall doesn't work on Wife 1.0

Please help!

Thanks,

‘A Troubled User"

REPLY:

Dear Troubled User:

This is a very common problem that people complain about. Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 5.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program.

Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING!!!

It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 5.0.

It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed.

You cannot go back to Girlfriend 5.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed not to allow this. (Look in your Wife 1.0 Manual under Warnings-Alimony- Child Support).

I recommend that you keep Wife1.0 and work on improving the environment.

I suggest installing the background application " Yes Dear* *" to alleviate software augmentation.

The best course of action is to enter the command C:\APOLOGIZE because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway.

Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance. Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean 2.5, Sweep 3.0, Cook 1.5 and DoLaundry 4.2. However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program NagNag 9.5.

Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flower 2.1 and Jewellery 5.0

STATUTORY WARNING: DO NOT, under any circumstances, install SecretaryWithShortSkirt 3.3. This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system.

Regards,

Tech Support

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boy Friend Upgrade

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0

I noticed a slowdown in the overall performance, particularly in the Flower 2.1 and Jewellery 5.0 applications that had operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, but installed undesirable programs such as Cricket 4.1, NFL 5.0 and NBA 3.0. And now Conversation 8.0 no longer runs and House Cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.

I've tried running NagNag 9.5. to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?

Thanks,

‘Desperate"

Reply:

Dear Desperate:

First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an entertainment package, while Husband 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM. At the command line, try entering C:\ITHOUGHTYOULOVEDME and download Tears 6.2 to install Guilt 3.0.

 

If all works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Flower 2.1 and Jewellery 5.0. But, remember, overuse can cause Husband 1.0 to default to GrumpySilence 2.5, HappyHour 7.0 or Beer 7.4

Beer 7.4 is a very bad program that will create snoringloudly.wav files. Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-Law 1.0 or re-install another Boyfriend program. These are not supported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have a limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider additional software to improve memory and performance. I personally recommend Hot Food 3.0 and Lingerie 9.9.

Regards,

Tech Support 

Every (House 0.0) System can contain (Husband 1.0 and Wife 1.0) more than one operating systems. But at a time, anyone can work on only one operating system, that’s why everyone should know which operating system should be used at what time. This will keep the system cool and running all the time without crashing. Love inside pom pompompom (Intel inside)

Read more

Two Bedroom Flat

As the dream of most parents I had acquired a degree in Soft ware Engineering and joined a company based in USA, the land of braves and opportunity. When I arrived in the USA, it was as if a dream had come true.
Here at last I was in the place where I want to be. I decided I would be staying in this country for about Five years in which time I would have earned enough money to settle down in India.

My father was a government employee and after his retirement, the only asset he could acquire was a decent one bedroom flat.

I wanted to do some thing more than him. I started feeling homesick and lonely as the time passed. I used to call home and speak to my parents every week using cheap international phone cards. Two years passed, two years of Burgers at McDonald's and pizzas and discos and 2 years watching the foreign exchange rate getting happy whenever the Rupee value went down.

Finally I decided to get married. Told my parents that I have only 10 days of holidays and everything must be done within these 10 days. I got my ticket booked in the cheapest flight. Was jubilant and was actually enjoying hopping for gifts for all my friends back home. If I miss anyone then there will be talks. After reaching home I spent home one week going through all the photographs of girls and as the time was getting shorter I was forced to select one candidate.

In-laws told me, to my surprise, that I would have to get married in 2-3 days, as I will not get anymore holidays. After the marriage, it was time to return to USA , after giving some money to my parents and telling the neighbors to look after them, we returned to USA .

My wife enjoyed this country for about two months and then she started feeling lonely. The frequency of calling India increased to twice in a week sometimes 3 times a week. Our savings started diminishing. After two more years we started to have kids. Two lovely kids, a boy and a girl, were gifted to us by the almighty. Every time I spoke to my parents, they asked me to come to India so that they can see their grand-children.

Every year I decide to go to India .. But part work part monetary conditions prevented it. Years went by and visiting India was a distant dream. Then suddenly one day I got a message that my parents were seriously sick. I tried but I couldn't get any holidays and thus could not go to India.. The next message I got was my parents had passed away and as there was no one to do the last rights the society members had done whatever they could. I was depressed. My parents had passed away without seeing their grand children.
After couple more years passed away, much to my children's dislike and my wife's joy we returned to India to settle down. I started to look for a suitable property, but to my dismay my savings were short and the property prices had gone up during all these years. I had to return to the USA..

My wife refused to come back with me and my children refused to stay in India.. My 2 children and I returned to USA after promising my wife I would be back for good after two years.

Time passed by, my daughter decided to get married to an American and my son was happy living in USA... I decided that had enough and wound-up every thing and returned to India. I had just enough money to buy a decent 02 bedroom flat in a well-developed locality.

Now I am 60 years old and the only time I go out of the flat is for the routine visit to the nearby temple. My faithful wife has also left me and gone to the holy abode.

Sometimes I wondered was it worth all this? My father, even after staying in India, had a house to his name and I too have the same nothing more.

I lost my parents and children for just ONE EXTRA BEDROOM.

Looking out from the window I see a lot of children dancing.
This damned cable TV has spoiled our new generation and these children are losing their values and culture because of it. I get occasional cards from my children asking I am alright. Well at least they remember me.

Now perhaps after I die it will be the neighbors again who will be performing my last rights, God Bless them. But the question still remains 'was all this worth it?'

I am still searching for an answer...... ......... .!!!

... WRITTEN BY AN INDIAN SOFTWARE ENGINEER..- A Bitter Reality


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is one of my favorites stories, If I look at the life of a software engineer, the harsh truth is we(software engineer) work like donkey ,sacrifice personal life, not in touch with relatives, attend marriage or any other function just to showcase the status, Love privacy even from our parents,Importance to career rather than the family, I can go on...and Software engineer does that for just having an extra bedroom??? I think the main reason behind this culture is that fame, name are more important than the relationship or i can go head and say LIFE.

There are very few people who understand the value of life, I have even seen few software engineers value their life more than money/name/fame.When i have dug deep, i learnt that ,life had taught them a lesson in the hard way. Please heed to your parents, their life was/is as difficult as your life is. Learn from their mistakes and don't commit the same mistakes and repent later.

Read more

Work for thyself

One upon a time, in small city, lived an architect named Raju; he was working for ‘Fast Construction Company’. He earned his living by designing houses in the city. He is well known, As his construction becomes the landmark in the city. His dream is to construct a house for him, which has all the luxury and everything put together from all the houses he had designed. So he was saving a certain amount from his salary every month to able to construct a house when retires.

The employers of Raju, Fast  construction company were very happy with his work and always appreciated him with perks and promotions. They even made Raju as the brand ambassor for the company.

Raju was very happy with work he is doing and worked even harder to make his employers happy. As his earning grew multi folds, his saving also grew likewise. He was happy that he would able to save sufficient money within few years so that he can start working on this dream house.

Raju Married a beautiful girl and they were content with what they have and never purchased anything that is unnecessary. They both were satisfied with what they had and have sacrificed all little desires of trying something new. Raju’s wife wanted to travel the around the world and see new things but never said this to Raju, because she cared about the his dream.

Raju somehow learnt about his wife’s dream, he wanted to fulfill her dream so he started to work extratime to save more money and thinking , "Once sufficient amount is saved, he will retire , go around the world with his wife and then start working on his dream house”. So he put all his mind, body and soul into the work and forgot to even care about his wife.

The company grew multi folds along with Raju, They began to construct house in different cities and earned Name, Fame and Huge profits. They always appreciated Raju with perks and promotion’s.

Year passed on and finally Raju looked at his savings and thought that he had sufficient money and decided to work on his dream house and plan for the world trip. So he went to his employer and told about his retirement plans.

The Employer “Fast construction company” was sorry to see his best workers go and they did not have a back plan for this, Therefore they asked Raju if he could build just one more house as personal favor and this would be his last work in the company.

Raju could not say NO to his employer who took care of him very well. So he said to himself, one last house and then I can work on my dream house. He started his work, but as the time passed, his heart was not in his work, and he began to think how he can complete the house quickly. He bought inferior materials to build the house. His plan was shoddy, did not have all the details, so he had to rebuild few parts of the house again to incorporate few changes and fixed the issues that came up in the nick of time.

Finally the house was completed, he himself felt very bad about the house and thought " As i am not going to live in it who cares".

Meanwhile, Raju‘s employers were busy in preparation for the his farewell as they thought the company’s success was due to Raju's hard work.

As usual, it was time  to inspect the house which was done by 2 or 3 people from the Fast construction company, but this time, hundreds of the people along with CEO of the company came, which surprised Raju, but he was confident that they will not be able to find any defects as his patch work was good.

Raju handed over the Keys to CEO to inspect the house, The CEO, Handed back to Raju and said, “This is your house now ….  Our gift to you, as token for all the work you have done to make our company successful”. We wish you happiness in you future. The employees also thanked and wished him luck and happiness in his life.

Raju was Shell shocked!!

(If he had only known, he was building his own house, would he done it all so differently? Would he want an unfortunate end to his dedicated career? If given a chance, would he do it much differently?)

It is up to us, we would not get another change to relive our lives, once the time is gone, it’s gone, whatever you do you cannot have it back, you can only make the present enjoyable. As someone said, “Life is a ‘do it yourself Project’ “, your attitude , choices you make today, will have effect on your tomorrow.

“Always work as if you are working for yourself,

You never know what is in store for you“- Khry

Note : The photos are for illustrious purpose only

Read more

Know Thyself

The Prince

Once upon a time, there lived a Prince, who was tall, handsome and gentle, every girl in his kingdom and nearby kingdoms wanted to marry the prince, everyone adored the prince for his kindness too. The Prince was lazy, happy go lucky type, always partied with friends and ignored his responsibilities. The king wanted the young prince to get married, so that he will be responsible towards his duties but the prince had few conditions of his own and said to the king, I will marry the one who meets all my conditions.

The King died to illness and prince was forced to look after the kingdom. The prince wanted to enjoy his life without worrying about his kingdom or his duties, so he  searched for a girl who can be loyal to him, contribute in maintaining his wealth and look after his kingdom.

Finally, the prince found such a girl and married her, the girl was very loyal and loved him very much, and she was even ready to die for the sake of the him. They started to live happily together.

Three Wives

After a few days, his kingdom was in trouble and the prince noticed that his wife could not help him in resolving the crisis. So he married another woman who has helped him to resolve problems, she was clever, considerate, humble and listened to whatever the prince said. The prince started to ignore his 1^st wife now and always turned to his second wife whenever there were problems and she would help him out and tide with him in difficult times.

The Peace Celebration

The Prince who is the king now, had to visit neighboring kingdoms for celebrating peace in the region. He reached there with his two wives, everyone greeted the prince and introduced their wife’s, they were beautiful and all the kings were proud of their wife’s. The Prince was ashamed to introduce his wives, so he decided to marry another girl.

The prince married again and now he is very proud of her and shows off her to other kings, but was worried that she might leave him and marry another person or king.

Few days later, he met a beautiful girl and fell in love with her, so he married again and adorned her with richness, treated her to delicacies, took great care of her and always gave nothing but the best.

Now the prince was happy and his kingdom is also very happy, Years passed and the prince was near to this death and was very worried that he will be all alone in the next world and wanted someone to come with him.

The Prince

So he decided to ask the 4^th wife, whom he loved so much to accompany him in this death. The 4^th wife responded, Even though you have taken good care of me and gave me nothing but the best. I cannot follow you and ran away. The prince was shocked and but did not lose hope.

He asked his 3^rd wife, who also replied ‘you have used me as a 'thing' to show off, now that you will die, I will remarry and live happily” and she walked away. The prince was dumbstruck.

After sometime, he asked his 2^nd wife, “You have helped me in difficult of times, please help me one last time” But she replied, “Even I cannot help you this time, you are on your own now” and left him.

Then suddenly, he heard a clear and sharp voice, “I will come with you “, he looked around to see his first wife standing there. At first he did not recognize her, as she was very weak, looked very old, she did not look after herself and dedicated her life to King and his kingdom. The Prince realizing his mistake said , “I should have taken care of you as you are the one who kept me and my kingdom safe and happy all this time without even uttering a single word”,  “I am sorry” and never woke up again.

If we observer carefully, everyone is married to 4 wives, they are Physical Body, Wealth/Money, Family/Friends and Soul

The 4^th wife can be compared to physical body, where a person spends most of his time in adoring and providing finest clothes etc. but in the end it will leave you behind

The 3rd wife can be compared to Wealth, Money, Status Quo, Pride, Assets etc, These things will be taken or enjoyed by others when we die. It might be passed on to children, family or anyone

The 2^nd wife can be one of our family member or friends. They will not come with us when we die, even though they are the closet to us when we lived.

The 1^st wife is our soul, No matter where you go, it will be follow us and everyone chooses to ignore it for the sake of the other things like money, material and Pleasure.

Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul. -Oscar Wilde

Read more

Money and SALT Part 2

Richie started first, saying 

“I have many Cars, many Bungalows, and Huge Bank Balances “.

I have earned all this in just 5 years. I don’t think so you guys would not have even dream't of these things. I can buy whatever I want , I am never in trouble because I always buy my way through any difficulties, I never have to answer to anyone ,In fact everyone answers to me, I am like King and can do whatever I want and can buy whatever I want. ‘I have married the most beautiful women in the world and have world class security, body guards, you name it and I have it.

Middlie interrupted, so do you have a helicopter?

Richie said, ‘Yes’, ask me not what I have, and ask me what I have not.

Are you happy? A Clear but low voice was heard. It was said by poorie.

Poorie thought to himself about Richie as 'annoying and full of crap', so wanted to put an end.

Richie said, 'yes', 'of course' why you ask such a stupid question, I am happy because I have everything.

Poorie responded, “Really!”, ‘I don’t think so’.

Are you happy because you have enormous wealth? 'Or' Are you happy because we don’t have that much?

Are you happy because you can buy whatever you want to buy? 'Or' Are you worried because someone would buy it before you?

Are you happy because you married the most beautiful women? 'Or' Are you worried because you could not marry the person you love.

You have security guards because you are worried about your money and life and I believe it is not just because you have money, you have them.

Please answer my Questions Richie? Asked poorie, with a confident voice

Richie was dumb stuck, Poorie then said, look, you can buy anything you want but you cannot buy love, peace of mind. Look at me I am at peace, I have nothing but still I am happy.

Richie was mad at poorie for asking such question which showed him in a negative way. He responds “So are you happy?”, ‘You have nothing’, In fact you have ‘no life at all’, what good is that?. How can you say that you have succeeded in life?

Poorie was about respond when Wisie said, “Well, Well”, ‘I see you guys are having fun’. That’s good. Dinner is ready, let’s eat and then we can continue with the fun. All three followed Wisie to the table where dinner was served, Wisie specifically instructed each one to sit at certain place. Richie and poorie ate with some discomfort and Middlie enjoyed eating the food, but none spoke about it to Wisie.

After the Dinner, Wisie gathered all in the hall and asked,

How was the food?

All three unanimously said, “It‘s good”.

Richie and poorie did not want Wisie to feel bad as he had done so much for them.

Wisie then insisted and asked Richie directly, Let me know the truth, Richie initially hesitated and said I think, "It tasted salty", Wisie turned towards Poorie, he also initially hesitated and later said, there was no taste in the food it was like dull. Middle responded, No No, the food was really good.

The food severed to all is the same, isn’t it? , Then why do you think each one had a different taste?

The students were quiet and were looking at each other. Then Wisie explained that.

“Even though all had same food”, one key ingredient was difference on each one‘s food.

‘Yes’, you have guessed it right, the key ingredient was “SALT”.

“SALT to food is like money to life, when you have more, food will not taste good and when it is less, Again food will not taste good, but only having adequate ,it will taste better.”

You cannot eat salt for food or eat food without salt.

So remember do not run after money, do not give away everything. Earn to live and not live to earn. All three understood what Wisie meant and lived happily ever after.

NOTE: Please assume the food as Indian food with rice and its varieties

Read more

Paper Rupee Currency – A Thing for Collectors

The currency used in India is 'Rupee' and has on it 'a promise by the Governor of the Reserve Bank", and that says the paper or note that you are carrying is worth what it says. The promise on the note or paper is significant because it the responsibility of Reserve Bank in preserving the value of the rupee. The currency in India is printed on paper. Therefore a paper is converted into amount or value just because of a promise by the Governor of Reserve Bank on that paper.

Paper currency was first developed in China; it solved many problems posed by metal coins. It is easy to transport, manufacture, and lightweight to carry. The paper required for printing Indian currency is still being imported from other countries. In Order to become self-sufficient, a state of the art banknote paper mill in Mysore is being setup by Reserve Bank.

India is self Sufficient in printing capacity of the currency notes, it has four Printing Presses throughout the country, two of which are under Government control and other two are under the control of Reserve Bank.

• Nasik (Maharashtra) and Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) - controlled by the Government; 
• Mysore (Karnataka) and Salboni (West Bengal) - controlled by the Reserve Bank;

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) needs to prints currency not only to replace soiled and mutilated notes, but also need to print additional currency to meet the needs of the economic growth. How much or what amount to print depends on the many factor like growth rate, Inflation rate, etc.

Amount of currency printed = Replacement requirement + Economic growth requirement of the country

The most important factor to be considered is the while printing currency is security features to prevent counterfeiting. It is the responsibility of the people that they should be aware of these security features so that they can tell a forged note from a genuine one. Believe me, it very difficult to differentiate with naked eye. RBI has launched several awareness campaigns to educate the Public on the security features and uniqueness of Rupee.

Few securities Feature of 500 Rupee Note

If we have this information, then the people who intend to make counterfeit notes will also have, so RBI resolves this issue by making the replication of the security features technically complex and prohibitively expensive, and also by incorporating some additional security features that can be detected only by sophisticated gadgets and equipment.

January 31, 2007, RBI introduced the “Clean Note – Stapling of Note Packets” Policy. According to it, writing on the watermark window of bank notes is punishable under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act 1949. It also asked banks/organizations/individual’s to do away with stapling of fresh / re-issuable / non-issuable note packets and instead secure them with paper bands.  There was one instance in 2002 where RBI pulled up a public sector bank for continuing with the above practices.

Furthermore, RBI instructed banks to ensure that the notes that they issue through their ATMs are also pre-checked for genuineness and cleanliness. That is why most of times when we withdraw money from ATM; you will get new/fresh notes.

Managing the paper currency is a tedious process. The major reason is the speed at which each note is being transferred from one person to another person, I.e. Changing of hands and the second is the ease at which counterfeits notes can be made. The average life span of a paper currency note is expected about 1 year, Also it has become quite cheap and easy to print fake paper currency.

We as people most of the times write something or other in the notes, this is punishable offense. Because of this habit as I may call, the notes are not clean and it will be returned to Reserve bank, As more and more currency are being returned to Reserve bank due the non-Cleanliness of the notes, Reserve Bank increases the amount of currency to be printed and this will in turn decrease the value of the money, also the cost involved in printing move goes up. 

“The more you print, the less is the value of the money”.

In 2008, Zimbabwe government printed more currency to save their economy and result was... 100 billion dollar note was worth only 3 eggs

According to the Reserve Bank of India, we are second largest producer as well as second largest consumer of currency in the world, next only to China. Therefore huge costs are incurred in producing such a large amount of currency.

One of the Options considered by Reserve bank of India is to replace the paper currency with plastic currency. Since plastic currency is stronger and durable when compared to paper. These notes would have an average life span of 5 years compared to one year for the paper currency notes, it is also ‘near to impossible’ to make counterfeit notes. Printing of plastic bank notes is very expensive and high end technology and equipment’s will be required. The disadvantage of plastic notes is it could be harmful to the environment as it is made of plastic. Therefore recycling and disposal of plastic notes will be added responsibility of general public and governments.

Click here to read an article "why the Canadian bank Plastic notes which is nearly impossible to make counterfeits notes" .

Australia was the First to introduce the Plastic currency, A Video on how the plastic currency is manufactured.

Reserve bank of India’s Press release on October 2002 is that, it had “no proposal to introduce polymer/plastic notes in place of paper notes”. Click here to see the Press Release

But in 2009, RBI announced its plan to introduce plastic currency notes. And now nearly after 2 years, the Indian government is set to introduce plastic currency in Pilot basis or trail basis with 10 Denomination notes (100 crore pieces of Rs 10 polymer notes). 

 Let’s all hope the pilot launch of plastic currency is successful in India and soon the paper currency of Indian Rupee will be a collectors thing.

References
http://www.rbi.org.in

“I was born intelligent, Education ruined me”

Read more