It turned out to be too good to be true. Pashupatinath temple authorities in Mandsaur district of Madhya Pradesh rubbed their eyes in disbelief when they received a cheque in their donation box carrying several zeroes. When they added it up it came to One crore. But within days, the sense of exhilaration turned into anger and rage when a Mumbai-based Forex bank converted the crore into a princely sum of Rs 2. 26 paisa. Worse news followed---the cheque clearance charges amounted to Rs.4000.
The full story is like this. A devotee from Zimbabwe left a cheque of Rs 1 crore issued in the name of temple. The Samiti members quickly calculated the amount in US Dollars, without realizing the fact that cheque was in Zimbabwean dollar. The men of religion in Mandsaur were also blissfully unaware of the political turmoil in Robert Mugabe's country. When the bearer cheque was deposited in the samiti's local State Bank of Indore account, it sought information about the cheque from Mumbai-based Forex Treasury.
The Treasury stated that due to the collapsed economy in Zimbabwe, one US dollar is equal to 19, 09, 10,632 Zimbabwean dollar. Thus, the real value of the cheque became Rs 2.26.Besides, about Rs 4,000 were required for the clearance, verification of cheque.
