Lord Shiva and long ATM queues - bullock carts and ATM don't gel (satire)

Winter had arrived and Lord Shiva loved winter – it was the season of everything that is good right from sweets made of nalen gur to picnics and exhibitions and fairs. But, suddenly, he was stumped as he watched people in ATM queues, people who normally loved chaos and hated anything orderly were suddenly queuing up outside those cubicles that dispensed money at any time of the day.

Suddenly Durga appeared with a cup of hot steaming tea – the aroma was great, pure handpicked leaves of Darjeeling tea.
‘Anything interesting in your sights?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ Shiva replied lowering his binoculars. ‘There are queues in front of every ATM.’
‘ATMs dispense money 24X7 – why should be there any queue?’
‘I don’t know. That is why I am surprised.’
‘I think our Ganesh might know,’ Durga said and rang him up on the smartphone.
‘Yes mummy – what is the problem?’
‘Do you know about queues in ATMs?’
‘They are playing a new game,’ Ganesh said. ‘ATMs are not giving money any longer and people are waiting to be the first in line to collect whatever comes out.’
‘This is a very strange game,’ Shiva said. ‘I have been seeing people in jogging suits make a beeline to be the first in queue. Don’t they have to go to work?’
‘They must first have money to buy food,’ Ganesh said. ‘And – banknotes have become dud. Markets are down because there are hardly any customers. Even the online shopping has come to a standstill because they are withdrawing the COD option.’
‘I fail to understand why ATMs do not have money?’ Durga wanted to know.
‘Mummy, it is all a question of size,’ Ganesh explained. ‘New notes have been released but ATMs don’t have trays to accept them.’
‘Oh!’ Shiva was surprised. ‘When you mentioned size I thought that you were referring to the 56-inch size.’ Ganesh laughed.
‘That is now after the bullet train,’ he said.
Shiva also laughed.
‘I’d love to see bullet trains compete with bullock carts,’ he said. ‘It’d be a fantastic sight. In our part of the world, bullets are no competition against bullocks.’
'If you ask me, bullock carts and ATm somehow don't gel,' Durga added. (to be continued …)


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


Some more interesting links -

British Prime Minister Theresa May's visit to India - mango and visa on the agenda

Air India Express to provide improved air connectivity between Kolkata and Singapore

Mamata Banerjee to visit the United States in 2017 to woo industries


Lord Shiva’s views on Kalighat and marriages (satire)

Moody and the half pant brigade (satire)

Didi’s idea - deflate tyres to punish unruly drivers (satire)


Iraq special forces advanced into Mosul while ISIS militants killed 20

British police have foiled 12 terror plots against Britain in the last three years

No-fly zones to be imposed over jails to prevent drones from being used to smuggle drugs into prisons


Michael Fassbender says no to next James Bond - will a woman take over?

Second trailer of Wonder Woman released- will be in the cinemas in July 2017

Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) begins 11 November