The Silver Lining

It was yet another sleepy Saturday and as I was coming back from my usual temple visit, I noticed a huge crowd outside my neighbourhood jewellery store.  There was a long serpentine queue with people carrying heavy suitcases standing in that queue.

As I was wondering what that commotion was all about, I noticed my neighbour Reddy standing in the queue, with two large suitcases. He was a top shot in a local IT company but I never imagined he would go to a jewellery shop carrying a suitcase. Was he planning to buy the entire shop? Did he get a hefty bonus this quarter? With a huge question mark on my face, I approached Reddy who was quietly reading a paperback while in the queue, waiting for his turn to get into the shop. There were quite a few security guards managing the crowd.

Reddy was a bit taken aback when he saw me. And then sheepishly told me the motive of his standing in the queue.  The last date for filing the Income Tax returns was just a week away and Reddy realized that he had to provide complete details of his assets in this year’s return. Needless to say, his annual salary would have been more than 50 Lakhs as that was the gating criteria for the asset details. He was carrying two suitcases full of saris with gold and silver borders for assessment. As per the new rule, he was required to declare all his assets including jewellery and such gold and silver threaded saris. He did not tell me that the suitcases had jewellery as well but that could not be ruled out.

As I was heading back home, I was wondering as to what kind of misery a poorly drafted government act can put people into.  The poor salaried class employee, who gets to expose all his financials through the Form 16 issued by his employer year after year, is yet again cornered on his inherited and acquired assets – which have more of sentimental value than giving any substantial money back. Half of these assets may not even qualify under the category of real metal that the government was after. It is only after spending a good 4 hours in this queue that Reddy would realize the real worth or otherwise of these assets.

I was also worried if this would put some of these 25 year old marriages into jeopardy.   It may turn out that many of these assets, that would have come with the marriage, and which the household had treasured all these years, might turn out not to be of the expected carat value? What if some of these jewellery pieces are called out as below par – the typical 18-carat stuff? What if such a revelation comes as a shock to the 25 year older groom at this stage of life?  I am sure, the finance ministry would have never anticipated the huge social impact of this new rule.

Over the last year, I was very upset with my company’s quarterly results – that on many occasions missed the targets. This lower-than-expected performance meant that I could never get my variable salary to the full.  And that ensured that I was not in the same bracket as Reddy.  All my pains of losing the variable component suddenly vanished.  Thinking of those worried faces in that long queue and realizing the risks of such grave consequences, I was happy that my company did not meet its target numbers last year. I reached home and took out the Form 16 from my bag and gave it a huge kiss for having missed that monstrous number.  Whoever wrote that phrase about silver lining – I was too pleased to see those gold and silver linings on my wife’s saris – that were not to be exposed to the entire world yet.