While walking in a park, one morning, I found a Hundred Rupee note on one of the park benches. I picked it up, noted the number and took it home.

In the afternoon the plumber called on me to collect his bill. As I had no other moey at home, I settled his account with the Hundred Rupee note that I had found.

Later I came to know that the plumber paid the note to his milkman to settle his monthly account , who paid it to his tailor for the garments he had made.

The tailor in turn used the money to buy an old sewing machine, from a woman who lives in my neighbourhood. This woman incidentally, had borrowed Hundred Rupees from me sometime back to buy some household appliance. She, remembering that she owed me a Hundred Rupees, came and paid the debt.

I recognized the note as the one that I had found on the park bench, and on careful examination, I discovered that the note was counterfeit.

How much was lost in the whole transaction and by whom ?

(In reply to re(4): The solution by Charlie)

Charlie, you have stated in your last comment the following: "....before the incident this had not been the case. The only owing that existed before the incident was the woman owed 100 rupees to the narrator and the narrator owed 100 rupees to the plumber". But it was not so I believe. The plumber too owed the milkman the same amount, that is 100 rupees and the milkman owed 100 rupees to his tailor for his garments.
Yes one thing is true that you cannot say that the tailor owed the lady (the narrator's neighbour) 100 rupees before the incident, but the rest as mentioned above are!

Posted by Ravi Raja on 2003-04-19 22:54:24