The Power Of Saving

"Oh my God, why does the first date of every month come so late (and so does the salary credit in the bank account)?" Damini thought again. This thought used to come to her mind quite often, especially when there was some major expenditure which was inevitable and the salary had evaporated.

The doorbell rang, and the newspaper boy had come to collect the pending payment. After promising to make the payment next week, she headed towards the kitchen. The mobile beeped with a new SMS tune. Oh no, it was her mother informing her that she was coming the next day.

On one side, the news gave her relief, but on the other side, she was disturbed and prepared herself mentally to hear the same record from her mother about the importance of savings. Her mother always insisted on prioritizing savings before thinking about expenditures. Perhaps the philosophy may have worked in her mother's time. But times have changed. Everyone is living on credit. Thinking of saving is considered a crime when she was earning peanuts as a salary. Even managing the EMIs was a Herculean task.

Damini's financial condition was not so bad from the beginning. The first few years of her marriage were a fabulous experience. But then suddenly, cancer was detected in her husband Sudeep's brain. The savings and the ornaments vanished in treatment. She had to struggle to pay the EMI for the home and car loans. Even her career was affected as she was unable to concentrate on the job and couldn't give the desired time to office problems.

A familiar voice broke the flow of her thoughts, "Open the door, madam." It was Imarti, her domestic help, who was shouting. She opened the door and found that Imarti was very upset and weeping. Before she could ask "what happened," she cried, "Munna (her son) met with an accident and is in the hospital." After conveying the information, she said in the same flow, "You have to come to the bank with me to withdraw money." It was a request-cum-demand she could not resist at that moment. She switched off the LPG burner and locked the house. Imarti wanted to hire an auto, but she took out her car and headed for the bank where Imarti had her account.

Imarti used to live in the basement of the apartment where Damini lived, and she used to iron clothes to sustain herself. Since she had some extra time after ironing, she also worked as a domestic help with Damini. Although Imarti was illiterate, she somehow knew basic counting and managed with the accounting of her business. She was a simple and hardworking lady, and none of her customers had any complaints against her. Munna was her 14-year-old son whom she had admitted to a reputed school for education. "Madam, some vehicle hit from behind while Munna was crossing the road," she told Damini. Damini consoled her and repeated a common phrase, "Don't worry. Everything will be all right."

When they reached the bank, Imarti handed over the chequebook and passbook to Damini and told her that she had to withdraw one lakh rupees for her son's operation. Damini asked her with surprise, "Do you have that much money in your account?" Imarti replied, "I don't know, madam. Munna manages all this. I just know how to sign." She got the passbook updated and was shocked to see that the available balance was more than four lakh rupees. There were only deposits made in small amounts over the last few years. This was the first time a withdrawal had to be made. She filled in the amount in the cheque and got it signed by Imarti. Then

 she cashed the cheque at the counter and handed over the money to Imarti.

While returning home, Damini was only thinking about the balance in Imarti's passbook. In a few years, regular deposits of small amounts had grown into a huge sum that was now being used to save her son's life. The magic of compound interest was evident to her now. Her mother's philosophy was also making sense to her now.

After reaching home, she collected all the money, including coins, from different parts of the house and counted them. It was a little more than two thousand rupees. She took out 200 rupees and kept it in the piggy bank box. Now her mind was calculating fast as to how she would have to manage the remaining days of this month with that money. She kept the piggy bank box in the secret part of the almirah as if it were a big treasure.