Comments on: Currency and Class http://indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/ I'm a Sri Lankan American Canadian graduate trying to make something of myself in Colombo Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:57:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Harsha http://indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/comment-page-1/#comment-233197 Harsha Wed, 13 May 2009 02:49:14 +0000 http://www.indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/#comment-233197 Your description of riding a car "Cars are like big culture condoms that keep people apart from each other." reminds me of a passage in The White Tiger by Arvind Adiga “The cars of the rich go like dark eggs down the roads of Delhi. Every now and then an egg will crack open—a woman’s hand, dazzling with gold bangles, stretches out of an open window, flings an empty mineral water bottle onto the road—and then the window goes up, and the egg is resealed.” Your description of riding a car “Cars are like big culture condoms that keep people apart from each other.”
reminds me of a passage in The White Tiger by Arvind Adiga

“The cars of the rich go like dark eggs down the roads of Delhi. Every now and then an egg will crack open—a woman’s hand, dazzling with gold bangles, stretches out of an open window, flings an empty mineral water bottle onto the road—and then the window goes up, and the egg is resealed.”

]]> By: Hashir Milhan http://indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/comment-page-1/#comment-31320 Hashir Milhan Sat, 25 Nov 2006 04:38:50 +0000 http://www.indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/#comment-31320 The 2000 ruppee note jsut gives me messed up thoughts about my country.. is it hyper inflation?? damn! imagine us in a situation where the inflation will be so rapid that when you are in the back of a queue the price of bread will be 20 ruppes, and when your turn comes it becomes some 200 rupees or somethin!! this CAN be possible.. The third world - bus, well this mode of transport may seem to be third worldish, coz we meet all kinds of ppl in it.. but it is the most cheapest that a took took that is. i wish that our public transport was bit more organised.. coz i hate when the buses are over crowded, and you are obstructed from getting down at your stop! The 2000 ruppee note jsut gives me messed up thoughts about my country.. is it hyper inflation?? damn! imagine us in a situation where the inflation will be so rapid that when you are in the back of a queue the price of bread will be 20 ruppes, and when your turn comes it becomes some 200 rupees or somethin!! this CAN be possible..

The third world – bus, well this mode of transport may seem to be third worldish, coz we meet all kinds of ppl in it.. but it is the most cheapest that a took took that is. i wish that our public transport was bit more organised.. coz i hate when the buses are over crowded, and you are obstructed from getting down at your stop!

]]> By: indi.ca » New 2000 Rupee Note http://indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/comment-page-1/#comment-29950 indi.ca » New 2000 Rupee Note Tue, 14 Nov 2006 11:44:42 +0000 http://www.indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/#comment-29950 [...] Of course, this note is bloody useless on a trishaw or around town, and if I was buying anything that expensive I’d use a credit card. However, that may just be me. Right now the 1000 Rupee note is the highest circulation in Sri Lanka, so a 2000 may be in order. You can view the note in its high resolution glory on the Flickr page. [...] [...] Of course, this note is bloody useless on a trishaw or around town, and if I was buying anything that expensive I’d use a credit card. However, that may just be me. Right now the 1000 Rupee note is the highest circulation in Sri Lanka, so a 2000 may be in order. You can view the note in its high resolution glory on the Flickr page. [...]

]]> By: Ravana http://indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/comment-page-1/#comment-27054 Ravana Wed, 18 Oct 2006 18:33:41 +0000 http://www.indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/#comment-27054 Perhaps it was fundamentally fubared by your fanatically fetishistic use of the fascinating word "fudiciary." Perhaps it was fundamentally fubared by your fanatically fetishistic use of the fascinating word “fudiciary.”

]]> By: Ru http://indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/comment-page-1/#comment-27040 Ru Wed, 18 Oct 2006 15:23:03 +0000 http://www.indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/#comment-27040 When I was in Edinburgh, I was obsessed with paying in exact change: a bratty quality giving me a sense of unbelievable satisfaction; that I have not had to divide fiduciary, and do not have to think of ways to spend the mountains of coins that stack up like as in some numist’s fetish shop. This was made infinitesimally easier by the pound’s /penny’s excellent purchasing power (alliterative bliss) —you'll always get a penny piece back for something that costs £9.99, thus maintaining the value of the smallest divisible tender. Over here, you’re fubared and the more I think about it, it’s a blanket buggering because; in a retail situation (non-first world where as Indi suggests the 1000/- is the most practical tender), only the bravest and most anally retentive of high-income earners will stand hands-on-hips at the supermarket aisle waiting for their 18 cents back, but something that should be done out of principle I believe if nothing else. In a situation like the bus, conductors will not change a 10/- for a 9/- fare, so the add-ons are theirs for the taking. It’s called breakage, like the unspent value on a gift card: a sunk cost to the consumer and pure profit to the retailer, the mathematics is relatively easy. It’s vaguely alarming at how much money slips through wallets without meaning to be spent. When I was in Edinburgh, I was obsessed with paying in exact change: a bratty quality giving me a sense of unbelievable satisfaction; that I have not had to divide fiduciary, and do not have to think of ways to spend the mountains of coins that stack up like as in some numist’s fetish shop. This was made infinitesimally easier by the pound’s /penny’s excellent purchasing power (alliterative bliss) —you’ll always get a penny piece back for something that costs £9.99, thus maintaining the value of the smallest divisible tender.

Over here, you’re fubared and the more I think about it, it’s a blanket buggering because; in a retail situation (non-first world where as Indi suggests the 1000/- is the most practical tender), only the bravest and most anally retentive of high-income earners will stand hands-on-hips at the supermarket aisle waiting for their 18 cents back, but something that should be done out of principle I believe if nothing else. In a situation like the bus, conductors will not change a 10/- for a 9/- fare, so the add-ons are theirs for the taking. It’s called breakage, like the unspent value on a gift card: a sunk cost to the consumer and pure profit to the retailer, the mathematics is relatively easy. It’s vaguely alarming at how much money slips through wallets without meaning to be spent.

]]> By: Sophist http://indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/comment-page-1/#comment-26990 Sophist Wed, 18 Oct 2006 06:55:25 +0000 http://www.indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/#comment-26990 Agree with Ru. 20 bucks change is lunch for a beggar so couple of seconds might not do any harm. Change for the bus is a bloody curse because the 5 rupee coin which used to get me to school in Mount is now worth nothing. Nugegoda junc to my place is 16 bucks. So Mulla to Kolla is probably 20 bucks. It's crazy. 1/5th the price of a litre of petrol for a diesel bus. It's just not proportionate. The profit margins must be huge. You're right about the dichotomy of the currency notes though. It's a bloody pain. The 2000/s have been printed for a long while. It's just that someone fucked up on the signature so that they had to delay the release. There's probably hundreds of thousands of dud two grand notes sitting in the basement of the CBSL. Agree with Ru. 20 bucks change is lunch for a beggar so couple of seconds might not do any harm. Change for the bus is a bloody curse because the 5 rupee coin which used to get me to school in Mount is now worth nothing. Nugegoda junc to my place is 16 bucks. So Mulla to Kolla is probably 20 bucks. It’s crazy. 1/5th the price of a litre of petrol for a diesel bus. It’s just not proportionate. The profit margins must be huge.

You’re right about the dichotomy of the currency notes though. It’s a bloody pain.

The 2000/s have been printed for a long while. It’s just that someone fucked up on the signature so that they had to delay the release. There’s probably hundreds of thousands of dud two grand notes sitting in the basement of the CBSL.

]]> By: Ru http://indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/comment-page-1/#comment-26979 Ru Wed, 18 Oct 2006 03:15:29 +0000 http://www.indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/#comment-26979 Strange, was thinking about this today - SL is finally coming to terms with its own inflation and the 2000/- note will be excellent, however - lowest denominators have lost so much value that you're rarely given change in the smaller coins. I think you should still demand it though. Strange, was thinking about this today – SL is finally coming to terms with its own inflation and the 2000/- note will be excellent, however – lowest denominators have lost so much value that you’re rarely given change in the smaller coins. I think you should still demand it though.

]]> By: indi http://indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/comment-page-1/#comment-26963 indi Tue, 17 Oct 2006 22:44:39 +0000 http://www.indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/#comment-26963 Interesting, from the LBO report, <blockquote>The Bank estimates, out of 145 billion rupees of money circulating throughout the country, 97 percent are currency notes. Of this, around 75 percent of money is represented in 1000 rupee notes and 15 percent are 500 rupee notes, with the rest in other denominations. With the introduction of the two thousand rupee note, the significance of the 1000 rupee note is expected to fall to 40 to 50 percent of the currency issue, Jeewandera said. Higher denomination notes are seen as being more convenient for large value transactions such as buying land or vehicles, with people also carrying fewer notes around. </blockquote> Interesting, from the LBO report,

The Bank estimates, out of 145 billion rupees of money circulating throughout the country, 97 percent are currency notes.

Of this, around 75 percent of money is represented in 1000 rupee notes and 15 percent are 500 rupee notes, with the rest in other denominations.

With the introduction of the two thousand rupee note, the significance of the 1000 rupee note is expected to fall to 40 to 50 percent of the currency issue, Jeewandera said.

Higher denomination notes are seen as being more convenient for large value transactions such as buying land or vehicles, with people also carrying fewer notes around.

]]> By: Subhanu http://indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/comment-page-1/#comment-26962 Subhanu Tue, 17 Oct 2006 22:15:13 +0000 http://www.indi.ca/2006/10/currency-and-class/#comment-26962 Did you hear that they've actually introduced a 2000 rupee note, today? I hope this link works: <a href='http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?newsID=1247963091&no_view=1&SEARCH_TERM=16' rel="nofollow">LBO</a> Did you hear that they’ve actually introduced a 2000 rupee note, today? I hope this link works:
LBO

]]>