We love our Gandhi

30th January 2009

People, on an average, are getting more short tempered and impatient. At least in India the problem can be solved by if people are urged to look into their wallet. If a picture of Gandhi can't make them think of the virtues of non-violence, I don't think anything will.

Earlier we had a picture of Gandhi only on the notes of 500 bucks but now it is present on each and every Indian note starting from ten rupees to a thousand rupees. Earlier the 500 hundred rupee note was called a "Gandhi" just like a one dollar note is called a George Washington in USA. (I guess it is also known by that name, I heard it in a Hollywood movie).

Having pictures of different presidents on notes of different value makes a lot of sense to the people who can't read especially in US where all the notes are of the same size and colour. In India we thankfully have notes of varying size, getting bigger in size as they grow in value but it still would make a lot more sense if there was a different person on a different note. A Gandhi is 500, Nehru is 100, Rajendra Prasad is 50 and so on.