Nearly every vendor has a small amount of slack in her budget, something she can cut back on. She may buy a cup of tea, a small food treat like a dosa, or some candy for a child or grandchild. Suppose that instead of spending, say, 5 rupees on these items every day, she used those 5 rupees to purchase her goods. This way, she borrows 5 rupees less each day. It might seem that it would require two hundred days for the vendor to become free of her 1,000 rupee debt this way. In fact, it would only take thirty days. This is the power of compounding (especially when the interest rate is high). Five
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