On the symbol

The gormint of India approved a symbol for the currency, yesterday. The reactions ranged from praise to disgust. Having a symbol, I guess, ain't that big thing. Yes, it adds to the ease and, if you think strictly from typing perspective, it would indeed save a 'lot' of effort: A special key or a combination instead of typing in 'Rs.' or 'Rupee'. That is, of course, once it is incorporated in the Unicode and the keyboard drivers are updated subsequent to that. But the hype surrounding it's usage, in almost every area, is all but surprising. It's just a symbol! The currency is still as useless as it's printer.

So, here, we find an article in HRspeak about the symbol. Here there are some psuedo-intellectuals attempting to illustrate their apparent lack of intellect believing the currency to become elite just by getting the symbol. And then here, we find some morons doing some more empty talk of  people to 'feel proud and take ownership of it' and that gormint must taking up branding exercise to popularise the logo. May be I am cynical, but it sounds more like a petty way to beg for a job that doesn't exist. A simple two line fiat to use it on currency notes and print/electronic communiques would do. The first one, though, is not going to happen. Wasting money in hiring idiots to talk about and dumbs to stand beside the portraits should better not be done. The same may be better invested in educating the masses, to bring home the point that a currency note be valued a tad more preciously than a toilet paper. Life of a currency note, specially for lesser denominations that change hands frequently, is pretty small, given the beautiful ways the citizen handle them.

Similar non-sense prevails, when it comes to adding the symbol to the keyboards. A keyboard, for the uninitiated, is configurable. Anyone who installed an Operating System (OS) on computers comes across choice of keyboard layouts. Those who installed Linux variants, Ubuntu for instance, presents an exhaustive list of layouts during installation, as well as during login. Even the worthless MS Windows OS allow to change the layouts. The point is, it's not a matter of great intellectual dialectic or uncountable hours of human labour to incorporate the change. All one needs is to utilise an unused combination to print the symbol, once the Unicode key is designated to it and the font libraries, obviously, add it. So, when some smart ass says its 'customised handsets for Indian consumers' or 'at stake is a lucrative market for keyboards and printers' you know its gibberish, mostly.

Coming to the design, now. It's quite quaint. The design is quite repetitive. Because the other currencies with a symbol had a line cutting through it, the same seems to have been adopted in here. Be original! A more aesthetic symbol, with more curvy style, would have done better. This, and the unwarranted hoopla around the entire thing, makes it a let down.

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Addendum:

The Fordian ppl did what I mentioned in no time. Lets hope the morons stop blabbering now.