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Give Me Back My One Paisa

This will not be a very interesting piece but somehow I thought of typing this out after reading Austromate's tale about a penny scratched with the initials BS...

Yes.. It was a long time ago. 1960 or maybe 1961 I don't clearly remember.A schoolgoing thin boy with worn out half pants , black shoes and white potaoed socks.I had somehow scrounged a one paise coin from my father. I felt rich !! Almost like a Crorepati [millionaire] the single copper piece could buy me a "haddi kora" from the pushcart which stood all the time beside my school compound wall.

You worthy readers might be wondering what on earth is a "haddi kora" !! It is a super-hard sphere of one inch diameter made from the cheapest molasses with a few slices of groundnuts. The delicacy came wrapped in a piece of dirty white paper. I preferred this sweet for two simple reasons.. (1) It was the only sweet which could be bought for one paise (2) It lasted for a long long time.

The coin soon changed hands and the haddi kora tryst was soon over. I languidly gazed at the other boys eating their fill of expensive tasty spicy snacks which I could not afford.I was happy in my own way with the haddi kora.I was never ever jealous of the "rich" boys who came to school in cycle rickshaws spending four annas while I had to take a walk to school with my maidservant Santo.

So.. those were the happy days when I got to hold a one paise coin.India at that time followed the British system ... four paise equalled one anna and sixteen annas made a rupee.I also have quite a large number of Indian coins which will be with me till my last day.Somehow I felt happy writing this piece of my story which is as usual nonsensical and idiotic coming from a swamped scribbler.Can anyone give me back the one paise coins which I had exchanged for haddi koras ?? Ah .. time for my toothache tablets..