Tandas

Tandas
(Group savings pools)
September 18, 2011
By: Gina Yoryet Roman

Every time somebody comments on my posts it makes me feel very satisfied although I may never write for The New York Times, Forbes, CNN, NBC or one of those top of the line websites. Like I said before, at this time my main interest is do reflective writing. Looking at those top notch sites, they are amazing resources to keep up to date and not ignore what is going in our surroundings but as an idealist, I strongly believe that it is our day to day experiences that leave very profound traces in us.

I’ve always been one to question why this, why that and in spite of the fact that the majority of times I don’t get to a definite answer at least I tried. For instance, I always analize my daily encounters with people I work with, people at the gym, friends or simply strangers. I like to hold on to the simplicity of life and keep the relatively important events that teach me the most valuable lessons or the ones that expand my knowledge. I also read a lot and talk to myself constantly when I’m driving, or when I sprint to the next place I need to be. Sometimes people give me a weird look thinking, “this woman needs some serious help!” I am not bothered in the least because isn’t this world full of crazy people?

Sometimes while I’m strolling down the road, my eye catches something in particular and I’m like, “damn, I forgot my camera or my radio again!” “This would’ve been perfect to write about. Many times while talking to friends I pause and say, “hold on, I need to jot down what you just said.” They look at me funny thinking that I’ve lost my marbles. But then we just crack up because they know how enamoured I am of writing and they just contributed to my worn out imagination.

One time I visited a friend in Mexico City and he asked where I wanted him to take me, I shrugged my shoulders and replied, “take me to tepito.” He was definitely caught off guard or whatever because he just rolled his eyes at me and said, “out of a million classy and beautiful places here you chose one of the worst, what is wrong with you?” LOL!
A few weeks ago I went to see a movie with a friend of mine and we were having a debate whether a “topo,” mole and a “castor,” beaver were the same thing. I thought they were synonyms in Spanish until I looked for their meanings in English.
There is an endless list of funny moments and word origins which always pierce my restless brain and in fact this week I came across this word that I heard many moons ago.

“Tandas,” (Group savings pools), are according to some individuals, the key to feeling wealthy for a few days. They go back to the 1850’s during Colonial Times or even further back; to the stock savings from the Royal Factory of the XVIII Century in 1491. It was a savings system among people.
Tandas are a tradition that give cash but at the same time they are “un arma de dos filos,” a double-edged sword as some people like to call them. They are basically an old school savings plan like that when people hide coins and bills under their pillows. They are mainly organized by friends or family members or even among co-workers. A group of maybe six, seven, up to twelve people, get together assigning someone to be in charge of collecting a specific monthly amount of money, let’s say, $500 pesos or however much the agreement was, everyone pitches in, the one in highest need gets the money first, then the second, third until everyone has gotten a slice of the pie.

This old system is only done among people who deeply trust each other but even then, there have been many cases where people screw each other out, take off with the money and they show up a few days later with a brand new something. That is when this issue gets very touchy as relationships go down the drain and many things are at stake. Perhaps before taking part in this, we should question ourselves whether or not this is worthwhile. I am in complete agremment with the old saying, “cuentas claras, amistades largas,” Good fences make good neighbors. I don’t know if this is the most accurate definition but Robert Frost says so on his “Mending Wall” poem.

It must be so for many people because tandas are at high demand since the economy has plummeted once again and all economists foresee is gloom and doom. Forget about the lingering around, perhaps robbing a bank might be the fastest route to see the cash flow. Ha, ha!



"Mending Wall"

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
He is all pine and I am apple-orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, "Good fences make good neighbors."
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
"Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down!" I could say "Elves" to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there,
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."


By: Robert Frost