The 10 rupee coin in the Land of Charminar

Whenever I land on this Land of Charminar, I land into problems. Actually, problems welcome me with open arms and seem to never get enough of me here.

The first such instance was the September of 2006 when the young boy within me was lured by the shadi ka ladoo and the rest is history.  For the world, I tied three knots but today I literally felt squeezed between those three knots. Aah!!

Cut down... Today as I entered the General stores, I saw a white beared chacha sitting at the corner of the shop with a fractured hand. I thought to myself "what pains to the poor chap at this age?" His hoarse voice, "Bolo kya chaiye" brought me back to my senses and I searched for the list of items to be purchased.

I had been handed over a list of small items to be brought for a mega family function. Mega function not in terms of volume or people, but in terms of achievement for sure. 

On his 70th birthday, my Father in law was being felicitated by conducting 'Bhimarathashanti' function. A traditional way of celebration wherein the couple goes through all stages of marriage (renewal of licence kind of) and reconfirming the vows of being together... Wow, some can think... Shit, others can, same partner again!!! Nonetheless it's a family get together for the younger generation, so the atmosphere was electrifying.

As usual, some petty items were left to be brought (bade bade function mein choti choti baatein hote rehti hai). The pretty free person in the house was nominated to bring those petty items, no surprises, it was yours truly. 

As I read through the items, the glare offered by chacha told the story of me being a foreigner for the state. My typical mumbaiya Hindi in the state of Telugu made him uncomfortable. It was evident from the deep burrows formed on his forehead. It seemed my language added to his already existing pains!!

As expected,  the sum total of all those petty items was a petty amount. A meager sixty four rupees in total!!! He must have built castles of a big fat hen to provide food for next few days but alas the sale was less than a few eggs hatched in the morning.

As I opened my wallet, I found a hundred rupee note and a fifty rupee note with some 10 rupee coins. To make things easier for the fractured bandya,  I took out the 50 rupee note and 2 coins of Rs.10 each and placed it over the counter.

The reaction on the face of the chacha  was priceless. His guess of me being  an outsider was confirmed. "Are you running a fake racket in our state?"  he asked me bluntly.

I was bamboozled.

"No" I said meekly, bringing innocence on my face as much as I could but he was not convinced.

"Ye banned hai yaha"  firmly he said.

"Ye toh legal tender hai, chacha, Official hai," I pleaded defending my case strongly. 

"Bajuwale Karnataka mein chalega. Yaha kisiko Dena nahi yaa lena nahi," the words of wisdom flew like water flowing from the gates of the dam opened just now.

Puzzled, I thought to myself, "Was going to Karnataka at this moment so easy? Did I commit such a henious crime by tendering change?"

Without uttering a single word, I withdrew my thoughts as well as the 10 rupee coins from the table and handed over the 100 rupee note to him. This brought a big smile to the otherwise stern face, his wisdom continued, "Tumhare Maharastra mein b chalega"

I nooded and walked down the street but the feeling of being a criminal hit me hard, I was framed as a gangster running a fake currency gang. Unable to hold my emotions, I asked the most vulnerable source, Googlebaba, why this kolaveri?

As usual it gave me so many options to choose, the prime being a newspaper article highlightinh minting of fake coins somewhere during 2010 and this state of Information Technology took it seriously and unofficially banned the 10 rupee coin. None of the business houses, small or big, accepted the 10 rupee coin and the tradition of non-accpetance survived even today.

A mental relief from all kinds of charges alleged upon me, I walked a free man with 2 coins of 10 rupee coin which would stay with me, for a few days atleast till I reach my state and have my favourite Vadapav.

(Those travelling to Telangana and Andra Pradesh carry 10 rupee coins at your own risk)