Money Laundry

Some crisp currency clenched in my fist, I looked up, guilt writ across my face. I shouldn't have done it, blame it on being an "erring" mortal being!

Money laundry. Imagine that! No, I din't get it wrong. I did not pinch anybody else's money. So the subject I embark upon is obviously not "money laundering", as you would have imagined. What with all the brouhaha of money-laundering in the IPL (read "Indian Political League" and "Indian Premier League"). This is simply about forgetfully leaving some money in your pocket, only to "find" or rather "discover" it perhaps months later, crushed yet crisp, after the soaking, washing, twisting, rinsing and drying in the washing machine.

Well, the other things that are oft forgotten in pockets before laundry, include tickets (bus, movie, park...), bills and receipts (supermarket, ATM receipts...) yada, yada, yada. Just a couple of days back, I discovered some crisp notes and an ancient shopping bill in my jeans pocket (jeans going through laundry is unimaginable in the first place, coz I usually "dryclean" - read, "hang it out to dry", but that subject is matter for another post, lest I digress).

Are currencies really designed to go through the laundry process? It isn't. It sort of fades off (doesn't it!), becomes crispier and if you put it out to dry in the sun it would perhaps just crumble.

But it should be made laundry-able, don't you think? The number of hands it changes, the sweat, the blood stains, the saliva, the grease, the tobacco and God knows what, justifies the need for a "hand (or) machine wash cum tumble dry cum steam iron"-able currency note. That way, the currency would be "crisp as new" for a long time to come. And just like how we iron, fold and stack clothes neatly in a wardrobe, we can stack these washed, dried and ironed notes in bundles of 100 and stash it away in the safe or in the bank as we please.

Ladies and ladas, I rest my case. Let's write to the RBI for laundry-able currency notes.