Andher Nagri Chaupat Raj

“Jehan kaan kaan per mobile phone rehta hai tanga, who bharat desh hai mera. Jehan har jhoopad ke upar laga hai dish TV ka chata, who bharat desh hai mera”

These lines reflect the India of today, a land of plenty. We are fortunate to be living in these exciting and wonderful times, all the luxuries and material possessions our parents and grand parents could only look at with aspiration and longing are within our grasp. We only need to reach out to own them. The once to be dreamed to goodies are all within the reach of the common man, a dream international vacation, a HD 32 inch LCD TV, a mobile for everyone in the house including the bai who does the cleaning and washing. But, the things our parents and grand parents took for granted like a belly full of food, milk in the morning, fruits in the evening are beyond our wildest imagination.
Today it is an achievement if a man can feed his family, and educate his children. Forget the roti’s dripping with ghee, his family is lucky if they can get chapatti’s roasted in a tea spoon of adulterated vegetable oil.

We are indeed living in strange and wonderful times, the cost of a return ticket to Dubai at fourteen thousand rupees, is more affordable than a month of food on the table for a middle class family of four. If only the family could live off relatives and neighbors for a month, one of them could visit Dubai or if they set their sights a peg lower two of them, could fly down to Colombo. This is not so difficult, as the Indian extended family is known for throwing farewell and welcome back parties, for anyone going to or returning from abroad. So what if by throwing this party, the host families home budget goes into a
tail spin and will take atleast six months of scrimping and cutting corners to recover.

Or if the thought of sponging on relatives and friends deters us, we can forego the foreign visit for a latest LCD TV or a refrigerator. The latest refrigerator model or a 32 inch LCD TV, available at a throw away price at around thirty five thousand is still affordable and within reach of a middle class family, compared to school fees reigning in the stratosphere at Fifty thousand plus per year, in a reasonable school. This is excluding the monthly incidentals on school projects and test and home work books, pens and pencils which cost upwards of a thousand rupees per month.

We have to thank our Government and its economic policies for making available to us the humble middle class, goodies that our parents could only dream about. Even as you watch the evil bahu hatch a scheme to usurp the family’s property, please send in a silent prayer to God, thanking him for blessing us with a leader who in his wisdom has steered our country to such prosperity. And if by chance your son refuses to be captivated by the cartoons chasing each other on the flat screen and cries out for milk, just wait a few minutes for him to calm down, as within a few minutes, an ad for milk supplements will be aired and he can go to sleep satiated. For with the prices as they are, it is the closest a middle class child will get to milk. We have to learn to be satisfied with our LCD’s and mobiles.

by Neera Kishore

Courtesy: Hindi Milap

Onions and tears

Onions are known to activate the lachrymal glands while being cut and chopped. Yet, it is the very absence of this humble vegetable from the housewives shopping basket that has brought the Nation to tears. As with all commodities the price of onion has sky rocketed beyond the means of the middle class family leave alone those living on the fringes of poverty. The time is not far when people reminisce of the good old days, where the use of onion in cooking was not a status symbol and even the common man could afford to eat it everyday.

The Indian Government instead of running from Washington to St. Petersburg in search of the elusive non-voting seat in the UNSC should focus its energies and efforts in getting “make the household budget last the full month” a competitive event in the Olympics. This will give twin and tangible benefits, firstly India will be assured of a sure shot gold in the Olympics and in other sporting events where this is made a competitive sport. And secondly our Ministers can claim to promoting sports and doing their mite to ensure an Olympic gold for India, when ever the issue of price rise comes up.

The Indian housewives balancing of the household budget is nothing short of a miracle. How else could one explain the infinite stretching of the household budget to meet the ever increasing price rise. No economic theory can explain how a limited salary can continuously expand to meet the relentless demands made on it month after month, year after year. Whether it is the 40-50% hikes in school fees, the frequent rise in petrol and diesel prices, the hike in auto and cab fares, the barrage of increase in food prices, dal one day, milk the other, and vegetables another day, the budget of the Indian house wife has been taking these blows square on the chin even as it prepares itself for the next one to land.

In lass than a decade, we seem to have fallen from a nation shining to a nation crying. Yesterday it was the cost of pulses we were raving about and today it is the onion. The price of onions has been propelled into the stratosphere and is selling in the range of Rs.70 to Rs.100 a kilo. It remains to be seen how the Indian housewife will weather this latest attack on her household budget. The humble onion has been her ally in making ends meet. She has banked on it to balance meals and feed a family of four with vegetables that could barely fill the belly of two, by adding it for bulk and quantity. And today her ally has fallen to the combined assault of hoarders greed and the Government’s apathy, leaving her to face the fight alone. Left with no choice the house wife may now look at a liberal seasoning food with salt and chilies to make ends meet. The only fallout one foresees is the increase in arguments and fights at the dining table. Which is not so bad, Spice as they say is what makes life interesting!!!
By Neera Kishore

Courtesy: Hindi Milap, Hyderabad