Through the passbook — the bank’s written diary of your account. The chapter supplies the answer inside the question, so the work here is to understand what the passbook actually records and why that is enough to track everything.
A passbook has one line for every transaction, and each line carries the same six particulars. These are the column headings printed in Fig. 8.7:
| Column | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Date | When the transaction happened |
| Particulars | What it was — salary transfer, rent, a UPI payment, SMS charges, interest |
| Cheque no. | Filled only when a cheque was used |
| Debit | Money going out of the account |
| Credit | Money coming in |
| End balance | What is left after that line |
Because each line ends with a fresh balance, you never have to add up the whole year to know where you stand — the last line always tells you. The chapter’s margin notes give the two key words: debit is “taking money out of an account” and credit is “receiving money in an account”.
Today the same record is available in other forms too, which the chapter mentions on page 205: netbanking shows “balances and transaction history”, and a UPI app “reduces the need for physical passbook updates” because it “allows users to check balances and track transactions anytime on their phone”.