Till debt has done us part with kindness
Ganga. What was noteworthy was not the fact that unlike the more hapless victims sacrificed to the unfeeling river goddesses and gods each year, this quotidian event only made headlines because he was a senior bureaucrat. Instead, his death should bring to our attention how far the quality of money strains the value of life.
Aditya Vardhan Singh, deputy director of UP health department, drowned because he was caught in the vice of a current. Three friends reportedly tried to coax divers to rescue him. They demanded ₹10k. Not having ready cash available, one of Singh's friends attempted a UPI transfer. But by the time this was completed, the struggling victim disappeared.
In this instance, an unwillingness to extend aid resulted in the most extreme rejection of a debt obligation, doubly unfortunate because it also denies that we are all debtors and creditors simultaneously. Not just in the act of giving and receiving favours or promises from acquaintances and strangers, but also in the daily act of buying and selling goods and services to continue with life.
In ancient times, all commerce was conducted — as it is today — on credit. One good turn, like taking a sick person's place at the mill for a week or handing over a sack of grain to a family in need, was returned in kind upon demand or after an agreed upon interval. In short, debt was a bilateral affair, never letting us forget our common human condition.
Then, some 27 centuries ago, the first avatar of money appeared as coinage in Asia Minor. Almost
