'Park benches are empty, coffee mugs, morose': Ravish Kumar on 'Love in the time of Notebandi'

By Dilip -
Modi tu PM nahin Paytm hai !
Tere seene mein dil nahin, ATM hai !

(NB - these lines were composed by a friend who had better remain un-named - DS)

What happens to matters of the heart when you don't have any hard currency?' After taking on the Government for clamping down on freedom of expression, TV journalist Ravish Kumar chose a different medium for his observations on demonetisation. Namely, fiction. Featuring “Love in the time of Notebandi”. “Park benches are empty, coffee mugs, morose, and I cannot see any more tears in the eyes of teddy bears. Lovers are not emanating the smell of perfume but the stink of old notes.”

This was how Kumar began at the Times Lit Fest in New Delhi, where he was talking about his latest book, Laprek: Laghu Prem Katha, a compilation of short love stories that he first wrote as Facebook posts. “I promise to tell the shrota a love story for the next one hour.” That is the lover’s version of prominently displayed message from the Reserve Bank of India on every currency note.

In the new cash-less future, lovers will not promise each others the moon and stars in the sky. Instead, saving a space in the ATM queue might be proof enough. “So what if the Rs 500 note is of no use? Use notes of Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 50 for your affairs, if not coffee then you can at least enjoy a cup of tea, if not a Bloody Mary, then some coconut water, and if not a pastry, then some golgappe.”

Here’s the full talk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQtsnOTuTdQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJdKhph81Rc

see also
MGNREGA Workers Demand Their Wages Now // RBI Governor Must Resign: Bankers’ Confederation // Gujarati Bizmen Knew of Note Ban in Advance: Ex-BJP MLA // Purging the poor: Mukul Kesavan
Arun Kumar - Controlling Black via Demonetization of High Denomination Currency
Harish Damodaran - In fact: When the money stops
Alexandre Koyré The Political Function of the Modern Lie
What is Corruption? The Currency of Sentiment An essay on informal accumulation in colonial India
Marx's economic categories
Global banks are the financial services wing of the drug cartels
Inside The Global “Club” That Helps Executives Escape Their Crimes
Your Phone Was Made By Slaves: A Primer on the Secret Economy & the connection between modern slavery and ecological disaster
The death of neoliberalism and the crisis in western politics by Martin Jacques

George Monbiot: Ayn Rand - A Manifesto for psychopaths..
Will Fitzgibbon - Secret Offshore Deals Deprive Africa of Billions: Panama Papers show politicians and corporates benefit from dubious multimillion dollar transfers
George Monbiot: Ayn Rand - A Manifesto for psychopaths..
Books reviewed: Twenty-first century capitalism
Sven Beckert - Slavery and Capitalism
Will Hutton - A too powerful financial elite threatens wider prosperity
Boom or bust time for critical thinking? A Conversation with Richard Heinberg
World's 85 richest people own nearly half of global wealth // World's rich threaten democracy




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