Word of the Week #36:
Yes, as you can obviously guess, this post is inspired by the recent change in the definition of the word in Indian English.
It would probably be interesting to track what this change meant for the various people across our country in various situations.
For guys like me:
Before 8/11/2016–
Being forced to drink Coca Cola when I really really want Thums Up.
After 8/11/2016–
Being forced to take a deep breath and walk past the store when I really really want Thums Up.
For a normal guy at the ATM:
Before 8/11/2016–
Going back with a ₹500 note instead of ₹100 ones, and wondering who would be willing to give you change.
After 8/11/2016–
Going back with an empty wallet, despite having waited in the queue for hours…
For Bankers:
Before 8/11/2016–
Teaching some ill-informed customers how to correctly fill out some forms to retrieve their hard-earned money, at the cost of aggravating the rest of the queue.
After 8/11/2016–
Teaching some ill-informed customers why they cannot retrieve their hard-earned money, while staring up to an already aggravated queue, despite their own added strain of being forced to work overtime.
For small farmers nearing sowing season:
Before 8/11/2016–
Well, pretty much everything, right? The physical drudgery, the meteorological dependancy, the financial instability…
After 8/11/2016–
The fact that despite everything else having gone in their way, they still can neither sell their yield of this season, nor buy the seeds for the next.
For a man sitting in a rural hospital:
Before 8/11/2016–
Telling his ailing father that he sold their ancestral land to pay for the routine surgery.
After 8/11/2016–
Telling his ailing father that he cannot pay for the routine surgery.
For that guy who hoards black money:
Before 8/11/2016–
Counting all those big notes in all those big bundles, before adding three zeroes at the end.
After 8/11/2016–
Counting all those big notes in all those big bundles, and then multiplying that by 2, before adding three zeroes at the end.
Exactly 4 weeks have passed. 4 more to go, they say.
I wonder…
