Yearender 2016: The lighter side of demonetisation

There have been long queues outside banks and ATMs after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the night of November 8, in an announcement, scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes in a fight against corruption and black money. The decision caused inconvenience to people across India, but they still managed to ease the pain in different and sometimes humorous ways.

International sand artist and Padma Shri Awardee Sudarsan Pattnaik was among the several people who welcomed the demonetisation move. He conveyed his message on the government's war against black money through what he is best at – sand art. "Beginning of a Clean India: RIP Black Money," read the description on his sand art at Puri beach in Odisha. (Photo: Twitter/@sudarsansand)

As the government set the deadline to deposit the scrapped notes before December 30, people across the country started lining up outside banks and ATMs, a day after the announcement. As the queues were too long and standing became a pain for many, people in some places came up with an amusing idea – they lined up their slippers to mark their spot, while they relaxed somewhere nearby till their turn came. (Photo: Twitter/Birdie)

There were some others who did not line up, either to deposit or withdraw money, but still came to banks and ATMs just to ease the pain of their fellow citizens standing in queues for hours. This man in Ahmedabad distributed water bottles to people standing in queues to exchange their currency at a mobile bank. (Photo: AP)

It is natural to feel hungry when your are standing idle for hours, waiting for your turn. The Sikhs of Biswanath Chariali in Assam offered tea and pakoras to them. (Photo: Harjinder S Kukreja/Twitter)

In the midst of all the hassle, there were some who remained unaffected by the move. A picture from Kozhikode in Kerala went viral on social media, showing two queues – one outside an ATM and other in front of a liquor shop adjacent to the ATM. (Photo: Twitter)

Another picture that gained attention of social media users was of popular Telugu director, actor and producer Ravi Babu, who was photographed standing in an ATM queue with his pet piglet. (Photo: Twitter)

As people thronged different banks to get their notes exchanged, several banks faced shortage of new currency and started giving bag full of coins in return. (Photo: PTI)

The most humorous incident was when a picture surfaced on social media of a Rs 10 note with "Sonam Gupta bewafa hai" (Sonam Gupta is unfaithful) written on it in Devanagari. The picture went viral after demonetisation and later another picture of a new Rs 2000 note with the same sentence written on it was also shared widely on Twitter. (Photo: Twitter/Siddharth Koli)