Going to a University to get a lost document seems like a cumbersome task, doesn't it? Yes that happened, I lost the convocation certificate of my bachelor's degree. Well, I was helping a friend who somehow lost it and after years when I needed it again, I realized there was no easy way I could have found it. So I went on for the first interesting episode of the year of a young cashless India aspiring to go digital. And yeah clearly, we are not there yet,
Gujarat University, a government organization with millions of students over the years and a true representative of a state. After filling in the form, I went straight to pay the fees. And a procrastinator as I am, the clock was already ticking and was a few minutes away from the lunch time i.e. 2 PM. The fees was Rs. 500 and unfortunately I was falling Rs. 100 short. Won't take the blame for that though, as my PM asked me to go cashless. Surprisingly (or shockingly) though, the University had no way to take the money through any of the digital means possible, I mean literally none, and there are many. Not sure how hard it could be to set up a machine to swipe a card or may be link your account to one of so many apps as the Government these days is promoting and that too with schemes. Well, I won't dwell on the fact for much time that if you are encouraging a mass of more than 100 crore people to go cashless, you should start with getting such a huge government organization which serves millions of people to go digital, but that really doesn't show a lot of preparation on their part.
Anyways, wanted to finish the task then only and went to try on with a thought that where there is a will there is a way. I ran (literally) for the nearest ATM within the university as the gentlemen on the fee counter although very polite, denied me on the spot and gave me an ultimatum to get the money as soon as possible as he was going to close on lunch time. But as expected the ATM had no money like every other ATM these days. So, I started asking for money to some of the other people around the fee counter, remember the clock was ticking. The first set of people that I saw near by were some of the seasoned men or respectable senior citizens. They didn't trust me with Rs. 100 when I told them about my situation and that I will give the money back to them. Not that I gave them a reason to believe me, I mean why would they. The counter got closed by then.
Now the silver lining, the young educated India comes to rescue. Met a guy pursuing LLM who just like me wanted to pay the fee. He saw the counter closed and looked lost as apparently he was waiting since morning to get some of his work done. I asked him for the same favor, a loan of Rs. 100, "Bro, could you lend me the money, I am falling short?". He didn't even blink, right to his pocket "Oh sure, here you go". Saw the light there, and went straight to the back door to try my luck yet once again. Here my work was done, the gentlemen who gave me the ultimatum earlier although didn't help me with the money, accepted the fee from the back door. It wasn't over though as even after the fee was paid I still had to go back to the first floor of the building and submit my application. I really wanted to give the guy (who helped me) his money back right away but was more desperate to finish the job which I came for. So I asked the guy where would he would meet me again (which office room) and I ran to the first floor office to submit my application. The guy as cool as he was didn't have any problem what so ever. Finally I reached the office to submit my application and some of the generous female employees who were sitting there accepted the application in middle of their lunch. Once again the young India showed how flexible and trusting they can be. I thanked them and ran back to find the guy who loaned me Rs. 100/-,
The guy was waiting outside the room as he wasn't as lucky as me in terms of not being blocked by lunch. I asked him if he can come out with me so that I can get some money out of ATM and repay him. He really didn't want to move from there as he just like me wanted to get things done that day itself to save a trip again, can't really argue with that as he was waiting since morning. He suggests Paytm and I was like, why didn't I think of that. Being in IT that should have been my first instinct to look for digital mode of payments for which I was blaming the University just a few minutes ago. So I pay him through Paytm within a couple of minutes, he smiled and quoted "this is digital India I guess".
I moved on, inspired to help some one else, trust people more than how much I do now and yes go digital. Also very hopeful that we will successfully make to our ultimate destination with the direction we are set forth to and with the young India being the torch bearers.
Gujarat University, a government organization with millions of students over the years and a true representative of a state. After filling in the form, I went straight to pay the fees. And a procrastinator as I am, the clock was already ticking and was a few minutes away from the lunch time i.e. 2 PM. The fees was Rs. 500 and unfortunately I was falling Rs. 100 short. Won't take the blame for that though, as my PM asked me to go cashless. Surprisingly (or shockingly) though, the University had no way to take the money through any of the digital means possible, I mean literally none, and there are many. Not sure how hard it could be to set up a machine to swipe a card or may be link your account to one of so many apps as the Government these days is promoting and that too with schemes. Well, I won't dwell on the fact for much time that if you are encouraging a mass of more than 100 crore people to go cashless, you should start with getting such a huge government organization which serves millions of people to go digital, but that really doesn't show a lot of preparation on their part.
Anyways, wanted to finish the task then only and went to try on with a thought that where there is a will there is a way. I ran (literally) for the nearest ATM within the university as the gentlemen on the fee counter although very polite, denied me on the spot and gave me an ultimatum to get the money as soon as possible as he was going to close on lunch time. But as expected the ATM had no money like every other ATM these days. So, I started asking for money to some of the other people around the fee counter, remember the clock was ticking. The first set of people that I saw near by were some of the seasoned men or respectable senior citizens. They didn't trust me with Rs. 100 when I told them about my situation and that I will give the money back to them. Not that I gave them a reason to believe me, I mean why would they. The counter got closed by then.
Now the silver lining, the young educated India comes to rescue. Met a guy pursuing LLM who just like me wanted to pay the fee. He saw the counter closed and looked lost as apparently he was waiting since morning to get some of his work done. I asked him for the same favor, a loan of Rs. 100, "Bro, could you lend me the money, I am falling short?". He didn't even blink, right to his pocket "Oh sure, here you go". Saw the light there, and went straight to the back door to try my luck yet once again. Here my work was done, the gentlemen who gave me the ultimatum earlier although didn't help me with the money, accepted the fee from the back door. It wasn't over though as even after the fee was paid I still had to go back to the first floor of the building and submit my application. I really wanted to give the guy (who helped me) his money back right away but was more desperate to finish the job which I came for. So I asked the guy where would he would meet me again (which office room) and I ran to the first floor office to submit my application. The guy as cool as he was didn't have any problem what so ever. Finally I reached the office to submit my application and some of the generous female employees who were sitting there accepted the application in middle of their lunch. Once again the young India showed how flexible and trusting they can be. I thanked them and ran back to find the guy who loaned me Rs. 100/-,
The guy was waiting outside the room as he wasn't as lucky as me in terms of not being blocked by lunch. I asked him if he can come out with me so that I can get some money out of ATM and repay him. He really didn't want to move from there as he just like me wanted to get things done that day itself to save a trip again, can't really argue with that as he was waiting since morning. He suggests Paytm and I was like, why didn't I think of that. Being in IT that should have been my first instinct to look for digital mode of payments for which I was blaming the University just a few minutes ago. So I pay him through Paytm within a couple of minutes, he smiled and quoted "this is digital India I guess".
I moved on, inspired to help some one else, trust people more than how much I do now and yes go digital. Also very hopeful that we will successfully make to our ultimate destination with the direction we are set forth to and with the young India being the torch bearers.
