Rupees

Atit brought me some rupees in case I need to make emergency purchases in the middle of the night in transit from the airport to Lek's place. Thanks Tit!

The bills are pastel-colored, fading from one color on the ends to a different color at the fold. Gandhi is pictured on the right end of the face of the bill, with his photo also seen in the watermark on left end. In typical security fashion, the background printing is of intricate historically relevant patterns and hidden symbols, designed to fool photocopiers and human counterfeiters.

Each phrase on the bill is repeated -- once in English, once in a different language which I have assumed -- though am not sure -- is Hindi. And actually, flipping the bill over you can see that there are many more languages represented here -- as a nod to the dozens of state languages and mother tongues of India (again, I've assumed).

The most interesting thing to me about the bills is that each denomination is a different length; the lower the value the shorter the bill. While this certainly reduces the overall cost of making the lower value bills, my first thought is that if you fold your bills together in a stack, anyone who observes you making a purchase will know if you have bills with higher value in your pocket. Seems to be a security risk for the holder. Hmmmm.