Page 25 - #letter to son

#SangamNiti SUNRISE
As I sit back and recall this episode that happened almost 20 years
back, I want to tell you that the human imagination made the sun rise
on peaceful coexistence of the earliest society. Imagination, creativity
and resourcefulness are powerful levers and, as I found out with that
development agency audit many moons ago, they can turn the tide in
your favour.

The sense of community in early civilisation was strung on a genius
idea that thrived on egalitarianism and equality: The barter system. In
its most fundamental definition, bartering represented the exchange
or trading of services or goods with another person. It simply stood
as a bridge linking demand with supply. Importantly, in bartering, no
money was involved.

The barter system was found effective for centuries and long before
money was invented. People exchanged services and goods for other
services and goods in return. The history of bartering dates way back
to the Mesopotamian tribes when it was adopted by Phoenicians. With
growing understanding of the technique, Babylonians also fostered
an improved bartering system under which essential commodities
were exchanged for other essential commodities. To cite an example,
Roman soldiers were not paid currency, but rather salt for their military
services. Salt was a valuable resource and what we take for granted today
was worth its weight in gold in the yesteryears. It was only a matter of
time before the barter system globalised with the outcome that silks and
perfumes from one part of the world were exchanged for spices and tea
from another corner.

With the passage of time, bartering emerged as a necessity too. The
Great Depression of the 1930s is witness to the emergence of rationing
that was conceived as a means to conserve resources for equitable
allocation during times of stress. Under the principles of exchange, the
seller of the goods or services would receive credit in his account, while
the buyer’s ledger would be debited. This represented the origins of
formalised banking.

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