An Avalanche of Rupees
24th May
A quieter day today, did a bit of shopping at Spencer Plaza. Meant to be the biggest shopping plaza in the country. But the main event was changing money. We had been told the currency required to have the van cleared from the port was US$, and had bought a stack of those with us. But found, no, they would like it in rupees. There are 40 to the US$ at the moment and we needed 59,000 Rupees. We changed $US900 and ended up with a wad of notes. But that was only the beginning. We needed considerably more through the ATM's. This was where the fun started as some machines were limited to a maximum amount. This was R20000 at one bank and only R4000 at another and at the first bank that amount could only be withdrawn once in 24 hours. But most of the ATM withdrawals were in 100 Rupee notes meaning rupees were bulging from every pocket as we caught an autorickshaw back to the hotel. We had been offered comprehensive insurance for the van and had decided to take which meant further wads of notes. An armed guard wallah might be needed to sit shotgun in the autorickshaw tomorrow when we make our way to the shipping agent.
We love the Indian turn of phrase when they write. The secretary of the Automobile Association of Southern India, a Mr M K Subramanian, gave me their quarterly magazine to read. In the minutes of the last AGM was this gem: “The president informed the members that 16 members had expired during the last financial year and one minute silence was observed as mark of respect.” They must've had a dodgy member of the committee last year because in a later paragraph: ”He also appraised the AGM about an inspection done by ROC based on a complaint by an erstwhile committee member who was associated with the committee for a long number of years and was party to every decision and action of the committee who had become disgruntled. He also highlighted the fact that none of the false and baseless allegations of fraud, cheat and misappropriation levelled against him were true.” I love it.
Mr M K Subramanian was quite a character as well, one of the old school.