Barter System – When we read in history we notice that there were barter systems in the past rulings for centuries. I had the opportunity of seeing this during my childhood. In villages people cultivate various food products which include cereals, vegetables, rice, wheat and so on and so forth.
Particularly in villages, i noticed people carry various cereals to shops and the shopkeepers accepts all types of products and they have rates for each product. The people give these to the shops and in exchange of these products, they buy the goods that the people in need.
This way the currency exchange is limited and the shop owners when a partucular product reaches 25 or 50 kgs, then they take these on bullock carts to the nearest town and sell them to the middlemen or government agencies which deals with the buying and selling, And even in villages they keep them in godowns and big buyets from other cities come and make a deal and later they send large trucks and take the stock with them.
Even the tribals who come from remote places with forest produce such as fruits, bamboo shoots, rare potatoes, vegetables and other food products and sell them in the villages and some may sell for cash and some may ask for products in return. e.g. in the shop you may get various items in exchange but in households there are limitations hence, the tribals who sell ask for rice, wheat etc. I still remember even like curry leaves and other greenaries when they come house to house they will give you the products as per the quantity of rice you offer. Also dry fish they bring to villages and these are catches from the nearby rivers and ponds and they dry them and bring to sell in the villages. Same is the case with live fish products.
I too used to carry some products to shop to buy biscuits, candys, cakes etc. at time we used to carry without the knowledge of family members. These are all the events that we aways remember. This will help our children to know how the life was during our childhood.