RAKESH PRADHAN, 29, is a senior marketing manager. The young man, who holds an account with State Bank of India, Vani Vihar branch, spoke to The Telegraph about the peril of withdrawing Rs 10,000 from his bank after failing to get the money from ATMs

I could not afford time to visit my bank on Thursday.

I was hoping that once the ATMs started functioning, I would withdraw cash. But, as luck would have it, despite waiting in front of an ATM at Palasuni for almost two hours, I became part of a disappointed crowd, who had to return empty handed.

When I asked people waiting in front of other ATMs, they said the machines were not dispensing cash. This was at 8am.

I had waited for two hours and still could not manage to find an ATM that was dispensing cash at Nayapalli. I decided to give up and headed for office. After all, I could not afford to lose out on a working day for my own cash that had now been out of my reach for the past three days.

When I returned home and was getting ready to leave for office, a neighbour told me that an SB> ATM was functioning near Rasulgarh Square. I decided to give it a try only to find a serpentine queue of people. I had waited for 15 minutes and received a call from my office regarding some work.

I had no option but to leave for office. I reached office late around 11am, but today I had a plausible explanation for the delay. My boss understood the situation and described his ordeal that was almost similar to mine. I asked his permission to leave office for a couple of hours, so that I could try withdrawing cash using a cheque. He obliged, and at 2pm, I visited the SBI Vani Vihar branch, where I have my savings account. I was shocked to find hundreds of people waiting there to withdraw, deposit or exchange cash. I waited there till 3:15pm and finally managed to withdraw cash worth Rs 10,000. I was given two new Rs 2,000 notes and the rest in denomination of Rs 100. It took me more than seven hours to get my own money in this era of digitalisation.

The demonetisation has given rise to black marketing. I have heard of people exchanging old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes at a loss to unscrupulous traders. One of my friends was in an urgent need of Rs 50,000 on Wednesday, a day after the announcement was made. Left with no other alternative, he got it changed in the black market and received Rs 45,000 in return.

The entire exercise aimed at curbing corruption and circulation of black money needs some serious rethinking. I am unsure whether the demonetisation would benefit the country in the long run. But, looking at the way the ATMs were handled on Friday, people would have to be patient and keep calm in these times of financial adversity.

I am hoping that the situation would improve in a few days. Bachelors like me need cash to meet daily expenses and, in the event of an unforeseen circumstance, I do not know whom to rely on. Even my parents do not have enough cash at home. Even if they send me money, how would I withdraw it? Waiting for hours in front of ATMs or banks would mean missing out on work. Since, appraisals are round the corner, I cannot simply afford to do it. I would have to rely on friends, who have managed to withdraw cash from the bank.