In this blog , i am not talking about an endangered animal species , but an custom which i feel is endangered and must be revived back to its old days glory . I am talking about the ‘Piggy Bank’.
As per wikipedia , it was named so becuase of the below reason :
In ancient times, scraps of food, and food that would otherwise spoil, could be “saved” and/or “invested” (and to an extent “recycled”) by being fed to the domestic pig and in doing so fattening the pig for subsequent eating or sale. As pigs eat such a variety of foods in so many conditions, the strategy paid off for peoples in all continents and the strategy was passed on from generation to generation. Then when money was introduced into society, the already firmly established cultural habit of saving food scraps by depositing them in the pig was then supplemented, and in more developed/urban societies was supplanted, by the saving of scraps of money rather than food in the piggy bank.
A piggy bank use to have great significance when we were kids . Indian parents used to get piggy banks for thier kids so that kids know the value of money and the significance of saving it for future. Kids don’t become spendthrifts . My parents used to bring piggy bannks made of mud shaped as various fruits (Apple, Mango, watermelon, guava etc) from a yearly dola mela (a yearly fair during the holi festival near our small town). The hole on it will be sufficient enough to slip a 1 rupee coin only. Later when 2 rupee and 5 rupee coins were released by the govt. of India , my dad used to expand the hole using a knife to make space for the new coins to slip into . 2 rupee and 5 rupee coins were a rarity those days . So if my dad gets one of these coins , it will go to say my piggy bank . When he gets the another one , thts for my sis’s piggy bank. If he gets two on the same day , each one of us used to have one. We were told that ne day the piggy bank will be full and when we break it, we would be able to buy something costly like a nice game or a watch or something which we aspired for many days. After breaking the piggy bank it would be fun counting all the money in coins . Sometimes my dad will put the amount in a bank account and he will tell us the amount gets doubled in 5 yrs and sometimes we used to get things which we demand for . I remember , during my high school days , with probably the last piggy bank i owned, my gramma got a watch for me(after adding a few 100s from her purse). I still wear the watch to office .It has become an inseperable part of my life .
A few days ago, i along with one of my frnds were looking for a piggy bank for his nephew . We were surprised to find that even big gift shops din’t have one . The ones we found were metallic and plastic ones with complicated locking systems which a child won’t be able to open , but the cost of these were more than the amount to be saved in it . Nowhere did we find the piggy banks made of clay. Few days ago i spotted a clay piggy bank at one potter’s shop . It was a small clay orb with a bit of decoration on its top and a small slit to put the coins in . Don’t think there were many takers for the same. I just thought , the piggy bank i knew is on the verge of extinction . I wonder , how is the next generation going to learn the significance of money and saving 
Filed under: Uncategorized
