Coffee withdwal symptoms

 

Visits by old clients are always welcome as they mostly indicate new assignment. One such software business client came to my office just when the budget of 2026 was announced. I welcomed him with the excitement of a child given a coveted new toy. But my excited welcome was returned with a gruff statement “You created the problem now you solve it”.

“Calm down and have a glass of water and tea” I proposed pressing the bell for our office boy. “See…. You are offering me tea without the choice of coffee” he complained. I apologized saying I remembered he had masala chai last time and having relished it I thought he would be honored I remembered it.

“What problem did I create?” I asked him fearing some suggestion of mine to improve efficiency of his programmers boomeranged. “We even rechecked after six months to find the efficiency of your programmers had improved.” I started my protection. “You recommended free coffee machine for the staff especially the night duty ones” he was getting to the point. I nodded reminding him the reason night programmers had low efficiency because the programmers felt sleepy and the office canteen was closed. Once coffee was fed with the suggestion of unlimited volume, the caffeine injected programmers actually increased their speed and efficiency.

 

“What’s wrong with the coffee solution now?” I had to ask. “Did you not hear the duty on machines went up? Our machines somehow need to be replaced frequently either due to wear and tear or new ones give more varieties. The staff is in touch with our competitors who install these machines. I lost two programmers to my competitor because their coffee machine offers 15 varieties of coffee not just 2 like ours. One month later a machine offering 20 varieties may be installed by another competitor, ” I asked how machine replacement was an issue. “Cost has gone up from this budget” client came to his point of issue. 

When asked how a small increase in coffee vending machine can cause worry he replied, "New hardware of computers have to be replaced as our clients demand new platforms which work on high end machines. Plus the US tariff has cut our volume load. Our margins are down,” Charging the staff for each cup was out of question as they were already used to free and once humans are given anything free they refuse to pay later.

I had to admit he was in quandary. “Its only a budget” I soft peddled the solution. “Your Industry of software exports has an association. Join with the coffee importing firms and appeal to the finance ministry to consider roll back of full duty as you earn precious foreign exchange. Just like your hardware is free from import duty this coffee hardware is part of production which should be free of import duty. Add figures of foreign exchange earned for impact” I suggested.  

My client left satisfied assuring me that their presentation to the finance ministry was to be done by me. Funny how a negative impact of the budget results in positive impact on my earnings.

 

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Gold Rate – Pain and blessing

 

The aspect of increase of Gold rate did not attract my attention until others pushed my head in that direction. ‘I should have got married before the budget’ my daughter cried one day. ‘Huh?’ I never knew she was in such a. ‘Any boy I know?’ I asked fearfully about the affair that parents are always last to know. I braced for the worst as she said, ‘No-one special. I just wanted to get married so that you would not have to increase your marriage budget for me in the department of ornaments.’ Stunned with the unexpected answer, it took longer to comprehend her concern for her Daddy’s financial situation. ‘Full 700% rise in the rate of 10 grams by an astronomical figure according to the papers’ she educated me. I took her remark lightly and said, ‘As I am likely to shed a tear as I hand you over to your husband, I will shed another for the cost of your ornaments. So don’t change your whole life for some price of gold and end up with the wrong man in the hurry.’ A father’s lecture finally entered the conversation with a sprinkling of humor.

‘How come we have fish for the second time in the week?’ I asked my wife. Because of the recession, we had reduced the frequency of our non-veg menu days in the house. ‘The fisherwoman said the cost of her fish will reduce as her family boat has got some other side business.’ I wondered what side business a fishing boat can have in the course of fishing. My puzzlement must have reflected on my face as she dug her elbows in me and whispered to ensure our children did not over hear, ‘Gold smuggling has started again.’ I almost smacked my head in an attempt to clear the rust of honesty that even stopped me from realizing such obvious. Now I was happy that there is at least some supplier who passes on the benefit of lowering of cost and does not revel in his super profits at the expense of exploited consumers like me. My mind wandered like the documentary of the history channel to the fifties and sixties when gold smuggling in India was rampant. Everybody in the costal industry made tax-free money and built bungalows with scores of rooms that would put a hotel to shame. When that stopped due to parity of prices (lowering of customs duty) the poor guys boats had to be filled with the voluminous washing machines and televisions. Not only were they difficult to carry on landing but they also did not make sufficient margin per cubic centimeter as gold bars did earlier. I can imagine these people to rejoice the advent of their ‘golden’ period.

On the way to the office, I bumped into my neighbor who was currently struggling in his artificial jewelry manufacturing business. He did not have his usual grumpy face but possessed a carefree demeanor to the extent that I concluded he must have lost his mental stability due to work stress. ‘What is the good news bhai?’ I kept myself normal. ‘Did you not hear, the BGL line is raised so my market had widened!’ I knew BPL stood for below poverty line but BGL foxed me. He explained, ‘BGL means Below Gold Line means those people who cannot afford real gold. So these people are my market. By raising the rate…’ I raised my hand, ‘I know the rest. Congratulations.’ I wished him. Now I could see the future clearly that the handful car parking for guests in our building will be encroached upon by his cars purchased out of the super profits.
I was now beginning to see an antithesis of how increase of gold rate actually creates wealth for the people in addition to the Government. I shook my head. All the rust in my head was making me think the scary logic that increase in gold rate was good for the people and the more they paid, the more they earned. Does liberalization create such a great difference? While people around me were celebrating the impact of increase in Gold price due to Customs Duty, I grew depressed as none of the drops of fountain of possible benefits would ever fall on me.

My company economist played the role of a counselor as he heard my story over a cuppa. He smiled as if I overlooked an obvious advantage. ‘You forgot the savings you will have due to price reduction of your fish’ he reminded me. I was one up on him. ‘You always told me to look at the net effect as you look as the net profit of our company. So, I calculated the excess money I will have to shell out for my daughter’s wedding jewelry and to compensate that by the savings in fish, it will take 145 years as per my calculation.’ His face fell as he searched for some argument in his mind to counter mine. Then as an instant flash he blurted, ‘You will play the critical role of catalyst of the economy. All the money you will be spending will circulate in the economy and that is what Lord Keynes had advocated.’ Wow now I felt like superman on whose shoulder’s rested future of world economy. I could visualize popular news channels like BBC, CNN, Times Now, Headlines Today etc. all clamoring to ask me how I saved the world. But in a flash I realized that my economist friend who was now heading for the elevators had pulled a real fast one on me.

 

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