No country for Plastic Money

It was on one fateful Sunday morning that I got a call from my friend. He offered me a free lunch if I can drag my lazy bum (Not literally) till his office in ITPL. It's not that he was my close friend nor I had anything to do for the rest of the day except to be a couch potato, but it was the treat that tempted me. I skipped my breakfast in order to take full advantage of the offer. At 12 noon, I grabbed my bike keys and started off.

To my horror, the fuel in my bike dried out and so was the petrol bunks due to strike in B’lore. Cursing my luck, I came back home tired and thirsty after dragging my heavy bike under hot sun .The Aqua Guard was useless without power. With little energy that was left, I checked my wallet and rummaged my room. After 5 mins I started my journey to ITPL with a book full of Meal Vouchers, two Debit Cards and a Credit card and few coins.

The bus dropped me to the nearest ATM that was out of condition. With a brave heart, and 2 one rupee coins, I boarded a bus, only to learn the words that one can use to swear by in Kannada, as I was caught traveling without ticket. It was 2 PM and I still wanted to commute by bus(This time with ticket) despite my friend’s plea over phone as the autowalas were over demanding. On some one's advice I started off to the nearest ATM which was 2 kms far, cursing the dusty roads and the traffic. As my luck would have it, after getting fired under the hot sun, I met an ATM that was already robbed and another one which was in the process. I stood impatiently in the queue and rushed in at my turn. "Sorry the machine is out of Money" the ugly lines flashed on screen.

A good Samaritan there offered me a drop to another place, a remote area where even one manages to get cash from ATM, cannot manage to get a bus. As my mind had already shut downed many of its operations by then, I sat in his bike without giving a second thought. At 2:30 I was standing in a deserted place staring a HDFC ATM that is yet to be launched. By then, my tongue was parched and stomach dried. My cooked up brain had started hallucinating of vultures following behind. The lonely shop nearby, became an oasis to me in that hot and deserted place. To my despair, my choice of food was limited to a five star chocolate and no water or drink. I ate greedily and settled the bill of 10RS chocolate with 50Rs meal vouchers after a lot of convincing.

The 250 calories gave my brain a little energy to think rationally. I accepted my defeat to the situation. I understood that this is not a country where one can roam around happily with bunch of plastic cards .I negotiated an auto for Rs300. On my way I called up my friend and was about to say that I am on my way....and the battery went dead. I fell back on my seat too strained to be panic and closed my eyes.

After 10 mins, I made an effort to cheer seeing my friend talking to the driver. We drove to nearest Restaurant which by 3:30 had closed its service. Dejected, we helped ourselves with a bottle of coke from a bakery nearby. Burdened by the ill adventure, I took the same auto to go back home. The fateful Sunday, I shelled out 600 bucks to stay hungry, weak and frustrated. May be the world is moving with Credit cards and M-Check but India has long way to go to make all the basic services to be technologically accessible.