From gullak to plastic money

October 31 is celebrated the world over as International Savings Day. The day was earmarked in the first International Savings Bank Conference held in Milan on October 31, 1924, to promote the idea of savings among the citizens of the world, especially the younger generation. Countries like Germany lapped up the idea, as it had to restore people’s confidence in the concept of savings that had been lost during the German Monetary Reforms of 1923.

In India, saving is a way of life, a part of cultural upbringing and a measure of its age-old sagaciousness. Not long ago, the most common gift a young child received from parents or peers on birthday used to be a gullak (piggy bank). The child would learn the vital lesson of saving by adding every paisa or rupee earned as reward or received from visiting relatives to the gullak. However, the advent of plastic money has taken a toll. For the child, money already exists in the bank, which can be withdrawn by inserting a plastic card in the slot, and just like that, money flows out. So, the idea of saving remains an anonymous concept.

Dasehra reminds me of those good old days when parents bought earthen gullaks painted in myriad shades, designed in various animal or bird forms for their little ones. These gullaks were filled with coins of every denomination and size till next Dasehra, when it would be opened by throwing it on the floor. Excited children would count the money collected throughout the year, which would then be replaced by the same amount of currency notes by obliging parents. All through the savings period the children would prepare lists of items that they would buy with the money. On D-day, dressed up with alacrity, armed with the power of moolah, they would accompany their parents to the market to buy the ‘objet de désir’. Also, a new gullak was a must replacement.

The humble gullak, however, has taken a bow from the innocent pleasures of childhood playthings. Kids no longer learn the precious lesson of saving and buying because they have learnt the new concept of online buying. Anything they desire can be bought online by entering some digits of the plastic card. Even when they accompany their parents to the market, they observe that things can be bought with a single swoosh of the card.

A young mother described her dilemma of online purchase the other day. Her four-year-old daughter was pestering her to let her use some of her makeup. On her refusal, the little girl opened the laptop, went to some shopping site and told the father to bring in his card to order the products she had selected!

Somewhere during the transition from using physical money to plastic cards, the idea of savings has taken a back seat. Let us teach our next generation what Warren Buffet recommended long ago, ‘Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving.’