Crypto Mama

“Easwara!, what is your opinion on this bitcoin thing. Have you done any investment in it?”, asked Pattabhi mama.

“No mama, I am not in for any speculation. And I think I have also inherited the family trait of taking no risk and remaining poor. Hence I have remained aloof from it. But the crypto technology looks promising, I’ll adopt it whenever it becomes mainstream.”, I said.

“What promising technology?”, asked Pattabhi mama.

“One use case is smart contracts mama. You bought that land alongside that highway project 10 years ago saying that the value will double in 2 years right?”

“Yes da, Highway also didn’t come, Buyer also didn’t come.”

“Yes mama, even back then I did admire your confidence on an investment based on a highway project in Kerala. Recently only one highway project was completed with much fanfare, the foundation stone for the project was laid during the Chera dynasty.

Okay, coming back to smart contracts, say you do have a buyer and he says he’ll come up with the money in 3 months time and wants you to hold the sale. You ask him to pay some deposit. If he doesn’t come up with the money in 3 months you don’t have to return the deposit.

Say you also have an agreement that if he returns to you with a “no” in 7 days, you pay back the deposit. You can make a smart contract for that, it automatically takes care if the conditions are met and does the money transfer.”

“Oho!” exclaimed Pattabhi mama.

“You can do that using the Ethereum network, they are based on the principle that ‘Code is law’.”, I said.

“Ayyayyo”

What “Ayyayyo” mama?

“Dei Easwara, Indian government passes law through Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and the President. Even then our laws are apdi ipdi only. If fellows like you write code and say code is law na, damal dumeel only. The whole world will descend into chaos.”

I don’t know what made him gain that impression of me, probably the time I said I ll make his smart phone faster and ended up erasing all his contacts. Since then Pattabhi mama keeps only theoretical discussions on technology with me. When it comes to execution he goes to Kamala Mobiles near Shakthan Stand.

“Valid point mama, probably technology will develop to a point that even coding becomes idiot proof.”, I said.

“Yes yes, very very necessary.”, said Pattabhi mama rubbing Dettol in the already inflicted wound.

“Why this sudden interest in bitcoin?” I asked.

“All this pandemic situation looks very gloomy, so I thought I should diversify my portfolio.”, said Pattabhi Mama.

“Oho. How much pension are you receiving?”, I asked. Pattabhi mama is quite free in discussing financial matters since he is confident that I wouldn’t be asking him for a loan. He showed me his passbook. I understood why the Kerala government was in financial distress. Pattabhi mama was in his late 60’s and I could see another solid 40 years on him with improvements in technology and medicine. The Kerala government was bound to get bankrupt in the next 10 years only by paying Pattabhi Mama’s pension, not to mention the members of Pattabhi mama’s “Retried government employees who watch county cricket to pass time” club at Parmekkavu temple.

I was planning to suggest a portfolio of nifty index funds, gold and fixed deposits. But with his constant money supply outperforming benchmark indices, I fell on his feet doing a Shastanga Namaskaram.

Note: There are three other stories in the Pattabhi Mama series.

https://www.instagram.com/easwar_aiyer/

You can check the highlights to track them if you are interested.