156 Bandits and Thieves (1/2)
It was a funny thing, but Old World problems always felt unimportant in the New World. They seemed unreal. Yes, he had to talk to Rani right here, in the house, in Mumbai. She'd gone to the market like she did every day, and she'd taken Amrita with her. She was always back by late afternoon; Samir was determined to wait for her return.
He forced himself to walk around the house and slapped his face and even smoked another cigarette. But it had made him even more sleepy instead of perking him up. So he made himself a pot of very strong tea and drank it with lots of sugar, feeling guilty. Both tea and sugar were in short supply.
When he spotted Rani and Amrita coming down the lane to the house, he very nearly ran out to meet them halfway. But he stopped himself when he saw that they were bringing back nearly half the goods they'd taken to sell - something had gone seriously wrong.
”It's all changed,” Rani told him a few minutes later, after they'd put everything back in the storeroom and she sat down with a mug of tea. ”They've put barriers all around the market, and there are policemen keeping watch. Everyone comes and goes through a single entrance that's guarded by soldiers who ask for documents. All traders must show a license to get in.”
”You didn't get in?”
Rani shook her head.
”We went all the way to the market in Khopate, but it was exactly the same,” she said. ”No license, no entry. So I just sold what I could along the way.”
”I can't believe this!” exclaimed Samir. ”You couldn't find enough buyers to sell everything?”
”Exactly,” Rani said. ”I couldn't find buyers. No one had any money to pay with. You told me to only accept payment in the new currency. Look at this.”
And she put a small handful of coins on the table, saying:
”One rupee and fifty-one paise.”
Samir was so shocked he didn't know what to say. He prodded the coins with his finger, noting that they were pretty crude.
”Did you get everything done at the colonial office?” asked Rani.
”What? Yes, yes. I got all the papers, you'll be able to show your license at the market tomorrow. Wait a moment. You'll have to show it every time you go there?”
”No, just once. They issue special tokens to licensed traders. Of course you have to pay for them.”
”How much?”
”One new rupee.”
”The thieves,” Samir said through clenched teeth. ”The bandits. Bandits and thieves!”
”I can't believe this,” Samir said. He prodded the coins again, scattering them on the table. ”They were supposed to start paying people guaranteed income today! And no one had any money?”
”They pay them with promissory notes.”
”Promissory notes!?”
”Yes. They get slips of papers with a declaration that the world government promises to pay the bearer ten rupees exactly a year from now. They are stamped and signed and what people are doing is they go to their local store, and deposit them there on account.”
”On account? What are you talking about? Ten rupees is nothing!”
”It's a lot of money now,” Rani said gently. ”One of those new rupees is worth a hundred old ones. That's why they've brought back the paisa. They're even making half-paisa coins, look.”
She pointed at the coins scattered on the table.
”It may not look much, but it's a lot of money,” she said. ”Especially because the shopkeepers charge double when someone's paying with those paper slips.”
Samir's mind went blank. His mental fuse blew because of information overload. He looked at the coins scattered on the table and at Rani and at the coins again.
”I must have a cigarette,” he said, and pulled out the small pack of Players.
”You've started smoking!?”
”Just today. Rani, I had an exhausting day. Constant tension, one problem after another. I went through hell.”
And he told her about crowd at the colonial office, the visit to the town hall, and the workers' blackmail.
”What's worst of all,” he said, ”They've been going around and telling people we're rich. But sergeant Varma will be here to protect us.”
”Varma will be living with us?”