It has become fashionable for people to use acronyms liberally during their conversations. With the type of development, on all fronts, that is taking place in our country, the use of acronyms probably facilitates faster communication. But it creates a dilemma at times, with the listener getting the message wrong.
Bankers typically love to load their conversations with the maximum number of acronyms available in banking terminology, from DPN, OCC, KYC to what have you.
So while you thought he was talking about Business Process Outsourcing when he said BPO, it was actually Banker’s Pay Order that he was referring to and presumed you understood him in that sense. A friend of mine went out late in the night to get some medicines for his sick child, saying he will get it from the nearby ATM. I wondered whether banks dispensed medicines also through their Automated Teller Machines but was politely informed about the signboard outside a popular pharmacy in our neighbourhood that said ‘Any Time Medicine’!
While we generally understand a whip to be referring to a member of a political party appointed to ensure discipline among its members, especially when it comes to voting, here comes the new fancy acronym ‘WHIP’ which stands for ‘women who are hot, intelligent and in their prime’.
The other day, two of my neighbours, one a leading industrialist and the other a GST practitioner were involved in an animated discussion. The industrialist’s minor son, while reversing his car, rammed it into the compound wall of my colleague. A crowd gathered almost instantaneously. While some assessed the damage, others were shocked that a minor was in the driver’s seat.
The boy was rattled and made good his escape. The industrialist was clearly upset with his son’s behaviour. He felt sorry, but only after the crowd admonished him for pampering his son. When my colleague wanted the broken compound wall to be restored, he looked askance.
“Why did you not pull him up? He should have been made to shell out from his pocket money,” the industrialist innocently suggested. “How can I? He is a minor. Anyway now that he has escaped, you will have to take care,” my colleague reasoned. “He is your son and the car is yours. If he does not pay, you pay.”
“Is it so?” the industrialist feigned ignorance of his duty.
“To put it simply, it is the RCM principle.”
“What’s that?!”
Pat came the GST practitioner’s reply, “Reverse Charge Mechanism!”
M S Vaidyanathan
Email: maharajapuram.s.vaidyanathan@gmail.com