Delhi: Driver Rahul Sharma, 25, remembers the exact day when his employer turned from a wolf into a lamb. It was November 9 when his employer called him beta - Hindi for "dear" - for the first time. The maid was asked to give him a cup of tea, for the first time.
"I was shocked at his sudden niceness. It went on for two days," said Sharma. For the past three years, his New Delhi-based employer has been abusive, bad-tempered, and imperious, often demanding that he turn up for work at 6am after finishing work at midnight.
"He didn't even bother to remember my name. When he wanted to summon me, he'd call out 'driver!'," Sharma said.
"On the third day, the penny dropped. He asked me to deposit 250,000 rupees ($4900) in my bank account on his behalf so that he could get rid of his black money.
Maids, drivers, nannies, and cooks in India are experiencing unusual politeness from their employers. Beyond the work they do every day, they suddenly have another use – to launder the undeclared cash which the rich have been hoarding in steel wardrobes, under the mattress and in under-bed storage....MORE
Greengrocer Bittu Bharati in Lajpat Nagar, south Delhi, has been offered
payment in advance for the fruit his clients will buy over the next
year. Photo: Amrit Dhillon
HT: naked capitalism"Some families who buy fruit from me regularly wanted to get rid of 100,000 ($1900) worth of notes by paying me in advance for the fruit they will buy over the next year" said Bittu Bharati, who runs a fruit stall with his uncle in Lajpat Nagar.
Fruit forwards!
FT Alphaville's man on the ground, David Keohane, touched on some of this as part of a wider look at what's going on in:
The curse of Indian cash scrapping
Because “the clever” might just “find ways around” your note ban…
