“The women are to blame. They save money, hide it from us and now we have to stand in line,” says Jagdish. A retired government employee brandishes a couple of Rs 500 notes in dejection. His wife passed away in January and he found the money stashed in her trunk.
31 March, 3 pm. The government’s deadline to exchange scrapped high-value currency notes lapsed and with it the hopes of thousands like Jagdish who had lined up outside the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) office at Delhi’s 6 Sansad Marg.
Among the Indians who were allowed to exchange their money after submitting due paperwork were those who discovered old money in the strangest of places. Cupboards, trunks, under mattresses, in pillowcases and old briefcases. Belonging to old parents or deceased spouses, this hard-earned money of the aam aadmi is now just scrap. That is, unless the government issues another in a series of ever-confusing notifications on demonetisation.
Here are stories from some of those who were hoping against hope to get their hard-earned money back.
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Also read: Meet the Humans of Demonetisation
Video Editor: Sandeep Suman
Producer: Sonal Gupta
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