In the last fortnight, ‘Demonetization’ has parachuted into our lives to such an extent that even yours truly, a “person on the street”, was impacted enough to pen a poem and a satire! Thanks to “forwarded as received” WhatsApp messages, most of India seems to know more about Demonetization than the Prime Minister himself!

There has been a flurry of articles on what it means for India and Indians, but not enough mention of the tremendous role played by those people whose life has been doubly affected by this war on Black Money - the Banks and the Bankers that India is banking upon and rightly so. These toiling, unsung professionals have risen to the occasion and how. This piece, based on my interaction with bankers , online and on ground, is written with them at the center, as a brief testimony of their tireless, travails handling (somewhat) tiresome customers seeking efficiency, speed, patience, special treatment and notes in their desired denominations, all in one go.

India needs to comprehend and assimilate that no bank has surplus staff for this mammoth exercise that demands work on a war footing. A lot is being expected from professionals whose core competence is very different. Banks are working hard despite not being adequately equipped to handle the exponential increase in footfalls! Employees, who have earlier handled cash or worked in customer servicing, are being coopted from other departments to chip in.  We need to realize that even as banks and bankers work hard to serve people, Demonetization related work is not the only thing they do. Regular banking transactions (RTGS/NEFT, locker operations, cheque book, debit cards issuance requests, among others) are on at full steam, as well. So when employees chip in to help in reducing the workload at the front desk, their own work increases manifold. Despite this, they are going beyond the call of duty - managing queues, arranging chairs and even organizing refreshments.

Amidst the din of expectant, argumentative citizens, who believe that bankers have cash for themselves, every withdrawal is overseen by cameras. Currency numbers get captured in the system and a note is made of every note! Managers have to give an account of all the money collected. This means that they cannot just give away cash to anyone. Cash needs to be reconciled at the end of the day and any discrepancy in the tally means that the balance has to be borne by the individual! No wonder, many Tellers have been going home late for the last so many days, only to come back again in the morning for yet another long haul. On top of it, they are as inconvenienced as the next person, for, they are subject to the same limits on withdrawal and exchange as anyone else.

Indians lamenting the loss of old notes need to note that it is only the undeclared black money that will go waste. A crude analogy would be to liken money to a cheque issued by the Government. Even if the cheque were to be burnt, the money won’t vanish! If the Government issues a cheque and no-one presents it, the money remains there and has an overall value even if it is not with anyone, anymore! So, the Government will actually save on the notes that do not come back into the banking system.

Thanks to the panic pranksters on TV, most of India knows that many of our existing ATMs are unable to handle the new Rs 2000 note! The Rs 100 notes that they can handle, are not available in plenty. Hence, the fast emptying, half-filled ATMs. Panic withdrawals by citizens, fueled by self-serving, illogical, fact-free media narrative, is adding to our own woes. But, recalibration of ATMs is going on at breakneck speed to break this vicious cycle. While things have eased out in the last two days, recalibration of all ATMs is bound to take some more time and crowds are expected to increase after the 25th, once employee salaries get credited. The bankers know this and are bracing themselves for the grind, yet again!

Indians ought to be wary of reporters and their tutored “interviewees” armed with a script! One such propped up interviewee who had to simply parrot, “Shaadi hai ghar mei. Mei Gareeb Hoon. Mera Kya Hoga”, was so delirious with joy, at her maiden performance, that she could not get the ‘right expression’. When the needless inconvenience caused by this jamboree made the Cluster head of a Bank politely request the reporter to go to a neighbouring bank , he was told that the shorter queue there did not make for a good story!

All Indians have a very important role to play in the seamless implementation of this change.  Before getting carried away by rumors of staff conniving in cash exchange and blaming all Bank staff, we might want to ponder on the fact that even if some banker is involved in such practices, how will he or she exchange the currency!  With everything out in the open, there is hardly any scope for any out of turn favors! Bankers found indulging in such instances, here or there, are being booked and made an example of.

While we keep asking all sorts of questions of Bankers, we might want to ask pointed questions to those coming with wads of idle cash for deposition and seeking preferential treatment. It is true that while most customers are patient and cooperative, there are some who create issues, especially the ones in a hurry - the VIPs who create a scene on account of their sense of entitlement. They need to be made aware of the fact that Banks are not some orchestra that plays while they scurry off the sinking Titanic of Black money!

Indians demanding specific denominations from a Bank need to know that banks are giving out exactly what they receive. Notes are disbursed by the currency chest of the RBI. A locality with two banks, A and B, can have a scenario wherein Bank A gets Rs 2000 notes on a particular day and Bank B gets Rs 100 notes and vice versa on the next day. Neither of the two will have a say in what it gets - and even RBI cannot help it! They are all doing the best that they can, given the circumstances and the objective of the exercise!

Indians wanting to exchange or deposit money without a proof of identity cannot demand special treatment! Insistence by a lady Teller for the requisite proof, cannot be responded with, ‘Aankh phod doonga’! Shouting and banging on tables, not letting others to move forward, cannot be acceptable behavior. Such violent, threatening behavior may well end up with cops being called! That the bankers are not doing so, is a supreme act of understanding and grace on their part, which needs to be appreciated and applauded! Seeking separate queues based on faith and gender in crowded banks, already maintaining special lines for Senior Citizens and Divyangs, is stretching the already stressed bandwidth too far! Our self-interest, bordering on selfishness cannot be blamed on the Banker!

The open secret about people hoarding cash in their lockers is out and Demonetization is bound to get it back into the economy. The frequent visits by people for depositing piles of unaccounted cash, after paying the necessary taxes, is a case in point!  Let us remember that Rs 5 lakh Crores have come back in and Rs 1 Lakh Crores have gone out. So yes, there will be a crunch and all of us have to bear it as that necessary, temporary pain of a root canal treatment! Bankers have been patiently working and supporting the move, so far. However, if instead of empathizing, we continue complaining without understanding their predicament, we might trigger a response that is bound to harm us more than anyone else. Bankers have been working very hard. They deserve our respect, empathy and appreciation, lest, their morale and patience should get adversely affected. Why should any banker take abuse after going through a seemingly unending ordeal?

Haven't they sacrificed a lot more than weekends and holidays, without a complaint, for us? So when an annoyed school teacher unable to get cash on account of late arrival at a branch starts cursing the staff with, “Bank Bandh hoga deka lo” , one can only wish for the  Mainstream Media to educate and make citizens aware. Our nitpicking politicians, looking to recreate a zoo on the currency, and our eminent intellectuals, supporting a Bandh against a great initiative to reduce class divide, could have used their clout to spread information. But they choose not to! The TRP driven ScavenJournalism of our Mainstream Media, egged on by the  theatrics of the usual suspects, has been assiduously focusing on the inordinate inconvenience caused to the queueing Indians. But when journalists send office boys to the bank, the undue Media concern for the masses tends to sound hollow! Media could have played a positive role in making this change less painful and cumbersome, but alas!

With each passing day, an ‘alleged’ crusader, instead of demolishing corruption, chips away his own credibility and that of brand IIT and the Civil Services - utterance by utterance, antic by antic! One ex-IRS officer who doesn't understand taxes, has claimed that banks will go out of India like an absconding tycoon!

He has also pontificated on banks writing off bad debts by collecting old notes, little realising that this money is a liability for the bank while loans are assets! The two won’t even come on the same side of a balance sheet, forget canceling each other! He fails to see or chooses to ignore that while the percentage of NPAs domes down, bad loans stay the same, amounting to no ‘loan maaf’!  He continues with his histrionics, raised to the power infinity, creating and spreading misinformation to mislead those people who might not go deeper to investigate. The chief ‘rumour monger’ seems to be eyeing an arrest for spreading malicious information so that he can divert attention and cry Emergency! Indians need to bear this is mind every time he comes forth to shoot off his mouth and scoot with an #IsThisTrue or #WhatIsTheDeal disclaimer. Yes, people are irritated and, therefore, it is essential that we maintain our cool and avoid being conned by the vested interests spinning yarn every day. Thankfully the mob-on-rent is not available as the black money supply is dead, else who knows what scenes one would have witnessed!

What can we do to help? We can start using digital banking for making payments instead of cash payments. We can educate and encourage our staff (domestic or otherwise) about opening bank accounts, especially, Jan Dhan accounts. We can convince them to start accepting direct transfers to those accounts.  We can take time out to help people around us to know how queuing for unnecessary, multiple withdrawals is leading to inconvenience and that their money in the bank is safe.

Our fellow Indians from the Banking sector, deserve as much love and respect from us as is showered on those guarding the physical frontiers. Here's a gesture to inspire all of us to be as unabashed in our appreciation as we are unbridled in our criticism.