People in Lucknow lined up to exchange old notes and withdraw new ones. (PTI)
At 3 pm on a normal day, Govind Shankar and Dhani Ram, 30-year-old daily wage labourers in Lucknow, are hard at work. But thanks to the government's ambitious
plan to withdraw 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, the last three days have hardly been normal.
When we meet Govind and Dhani in central Lucknow, their home in the city, there is an animated discussion on how to tackle the move that came out of nowhere on Tuesday evening in an address by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"See, I have just four hundred rupee notes," said Gobind, who hasn't managed any work today because contractors told him that they cannot guarantee payment till the end of the week.
More than 200 people, all from the Bahraich district, 150 km from Lucknow, share the same pavement in Lucknow. Just about half of them are at work today.
"I have about Rs 3,000 in savings. But my Aadhaar card is in my village. I don't keep it here because someone could steal it. I also don't have a bank account. It's in my wife's name. So we have decided to go back to our village, get our cash exchanged and then return. Our livelihood has been disrupted for a full week," said Dhani Ram.
"But it is okay," said Gobind, "If those who keep black money can be caught, and if there is more equality in this country, it's okay," said Gobind.
Two hundred metres down the same road, we met Sheila and her husband Pan Kumar.
Sheila is a domestic help and her husband does odd jobs. They have been living in Lucknow for eight years and have managed to buy a small home in a slum cluster.
After her early morning rounds to various homes, Sheila spent five hours at a local bank, and has come back with prized possessions - 20 notes in 50-rupee denominations - the exchange for a 1000 rupee note.
"I have children at home, two of them. Both go to school. That needs money. This should last me five days. I'll then go and stand in a line again," she laughs.