Photo of Retired Soldier Crying in a Bank Queue Goes Viral

Do we really care about our soldiers? Or do we only remember them when we’re trying to prove a point?

Is Nand Lal the real face of demonetisation? (Photo: Twitter/@anupamthapa)

We invoke soldiers guarding our border at the drop of a hat, but do we really care about the ones who’ve lived to tell the tale?

A Hindustan Times photo of a retired Army man, breaking down after missing his spot in a bank queue, has gone viral.

The photo of the Army veteran, Nand Lal, was snapped at the New Colony branch of the State Bank of India in Gurugram.

The 78-year-old retired soldier broke down in frustration after having visited the bank, for three days in a row, hoping to withdraw some of his pension money.

Humko apna paisa kyon nahi dete? Pehle tayyari kyon nahi ki? (Why won’t they give me my money? Why haven’t they made arrangements?)

Nand Lal

The septuagenarian lives alone in a dingy 10x10 rented room on the ground floor of a three-storey building in Gurugram Sector 6.

I have to pay my domestic help, the grocer and the milkman. I got a pension of Rs 8,000 pension in first week of December. I wanted to withdraw Rs 1,000.

Nand Lal

He borrowed money from his neighbour Dinanath Ahuja, a retired mechanic, in order to go to the bank.

He borrowed Rs 100 from me to pay the rickshaw-puller who took him up to the bank for three consecutive days.

Dinanath Ahuja

The army veteran moved to Gurugram from Pakistan after the Partition. Nand Lal adopted a daughter after having lost his wife three decades ago.

According to the report, Nand Lal and his daughter, who got married 15 few years ago, only get in touch when she sends him money.

She sold the house after she got married and went away to Faridabad. Now I live here.

Nand Lal spends his days between his room and tea shop nearby. His small room contains his few belongings – a trunk, a small bed, a plastic chair, a bucket, an ashtray, water bottles and two portraits of Shiva and Ganesha, to call his own.

When asked to describe his life in his squalid room, with two square meals, bank queues and a daughter who doesn’t care, he summed up with lines from a Hindi song.

Jab dil hi toot gaya, hum jee ke kya kare?

While announcing demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured the nation that only the rich and the corrupt would be inconvenienced by the move.

Why is it, then, that we haven’t heard any reports of rich people suffering or even dying in serpentine bank queues?

“Why complain about ATM/bank queues when soldiers are fighting for you at the border,” has been a common refrain since the 8 November announcement.

Nand Lal is among the many soldiers who fought for the nation. Despite his sacrifices, he is unable to access the money he rightfully deserves for his efforts. His tears are testament to the shoddy implementation of the demonetisation process.

Source: Hindustan Times