Embracing the digital way of life, and how!

In 1986, I was one among a select few at the Post Graduate Institute of Education and Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh to have been chosen for training in computers by the Regional Computer Centre in Sector 17. The digital world had just arrived in Chandigarh and we were in awe of the uses of the computer and storage of a large volume of data in a small compact disc.

In 1989, I got to use the computer for the first time during my post-doctoral stint at Louisiana in the US. During that time, I was in awe of many things I had never seen or heard of in my native country. For example, I would get an eerie feeling when the doors opened automatically in the corridors near the apartment where I lived all by myself, or when the smoke siren rang relentlessly when I would turn a ghee-laden parantha while cooking, or the ATM would deliver cash without the presence of personnel!

One day in the laboratory, while working on a computer, there was a power failure. My Jewish supervisor, who was a prankster, immediately held a torch over the computer, and asked me to continue. Baffled, I believed for a split second that the torch would provide the power needed to help me use the computer till he burst out laughing.

Being initiated early into the digital world, digitising my expenses became a habit, decades before the concept of digital India took root at home. Most of my monetary transactions were either by cheque or credit card. I hardly carried any cash and even spending a few hundreds was done digitally through the credit card, which mostly annoyed traders.

But a digital way of life gave me a lot of freedom because I didn’t have to bother about carrying cash around all the time thanks to cashless transactions. At the same time, it gave me ample days to pay my debt.

Days before demonetisation was announced, I was planning to go to the ATM to withdraw a few thousands for routine use, but I could not use the ATM well on time. With the sudden announcement on November 8, 2016, I was glad that I did not use the ATM. Fortunately for me, demonetisation did not have any effect as the only four notes of ₹500 that I had went for the purchase of fuel for my car and some medicine.

However during those days, I had to attend a wedding reception. The host, when I gave the shagun envelope, curiously asked me whether I faced any problem with demonetisation. I answered in the negative. I had enclosed an account payee cheque, which was all I could do. Even earlier, when marriages took place away from my city of residence, and which I could not attend, I always sent a cheque to the recipient concerned and it was welcomed.

Now with the new system of RTGS (real time gross settlement) and NEFT (national electronic funds transfer), things have become even easier. Both are electronic payment systems that allow individuals to transfer funds between banks in the country. Depositing a cheque for clearance now seems bothersome. The digital world really is a blessing.

I HARDLY CARRIED

ANY CASH AND EVEN SPENDING A FEW HUNDREDS WAS DONE DIGITALLY THROUGH THE CREDIT CARD, WHICH MOSTLY ANNOYED TRADERS