We reached Delhi. We had to take a bus to Shimla but had around 4 hours to spend in Delhi. So we decided to visit India Gate like any other tourist.
Got out of the airport, there was a prepaid taxi stand run by the government. Told the guy at the counter, “India Gate”. He said “250 rupees hoga”.
I said, “Ok, scanner please”.
He put his pen down, looked at me straight in my eye and said “Only cash”.
I was stunned. I asked “UPI nahi hai?”. He gave me the look again and said “Nahi, only cash”.
I am personally cash averse. The whole drama of counting it correctly, doing the math of how much change to get, checking the note if it’s soiled or not, counterfeiting issues, tracking how much has been spent where, etc etc. causes lot of cognitive overload for me.
I said “no thanks” and decided to take an Ola as it was the same price and I didn’t have to pay cash.
We reached India gate, roamed around a bit, took photos, saw fountains in red, pink and green colour rather than saffron white and green. Guess the government did not have enough money to buy the right coloured lights. Or may be they bought it from the Chinese. 😃
We then proceeded to ISBT Kashmere Gate (I don’t know why Kashmiri is spelt Kashmere in all the sign boards) to board the bus to Shimla. We took and Auto and the auto guy said “only cash, no PhonePe GPay”. We said ok and boarded the auto.
We reached ISBT and wanted to have a quick bite. There was a McDonalds right there and we went in as it was a freaking 34 degrees at 9pm outside, and McD had air conditioning. We ordered and the guy there said “only cash”. Cash even on McD?!!
In Bangalore even small flower sellers, fruit sellers take UPI payments. In Delhi even McDonalds wants Cash.
Modi Ji, you are promoting Digital India everywhere in the country but right under your nose, things are running only CashPe.
Endless thoughts 