09-28-2009, 10:07 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Hai mehangayi tu kahan se aayi?</b>
pioneer.com
Sidharth Mishra
This Navratra has been a real struggle to come to terms with the ever spiraling rate of inflation. Several incidents during the last nine days repeatedly reinforced the fact that price rise has changed the way people looked at several things. Could you ever think in the past of walking to a banana seller pulling a hand cart with a currency note of Rs 500 to buy a dozen of bananas?
I actually approached a banana seller with Rs 500 note and sheepishly asked him if he would have the change. He asked, what was the quantum of bananas which proposed to be purchased from his cart. I said a dozen, he asked for the note. He packed a dozen of robust bananas into a polythene carry-bag (one thought a ban was in place) and returned the change after deducting Rs 40.
So thatâs banana split for you. It gives the flavour of mehangayi (inflation) this festive season. Before I had actually bought the banana I never thought that this ubiquitous fruit, made so popular in RK Narayanâs novels as staple food of an ordinary Indian, could actually cost so much. Two, seeing the banana seller counting the thick wad of currency notes has made me believe that soon the Reserve Bank of India would have to come out with currency notes Rs 2,000 denomination.
Bananas are not only the ones burning holes in my pocket this Navratra. Early morning everyday itâs a struggle to buy three proper garlands of marigold for a reasonable cost. Last year, it did not cost more than Rs five for one garland. The flower seller would also put some extra flowers into the packet as complimentary. This year they are asking for Rs 15 per garland and no complimentary extra flowers with it.
On the first day of Navratra, the devout buyers found the rates difficult to accept. The seller was ready to strain his several-year-long relationship with the buyers but not bring down the price. Thank God(dess), good sense has prevailed. From the third puja onwards, the seller has started to insert white beli flowers between the marigolds and is selling the garlands for a mutually acceptable Rs 10.
On returning home after buying the garland when I find the newspapers telling us <b>about Prime Minister Manmohan Singhâs address of worst was over on the economy front, a desire arises to suggest the economist-PM to take an early morning walk and try buying some bananas and marigold garlands. The Government, through the official figures it releases every week, has grudgingly accepted that there has been rise in the price of vegetables by about 44 per cent.</b>
<b>Itâs not true. Try buying the potatoes and you would know how hot they are. They have witnessed more than 100 per cent rise in price. Butter has vanished from the market and milk is in short supply. Pulses becoming out of reach of the aam admi is an old story and people are now waiting for rice to get costlier. So the common manâs two square meals of khichdi and chokha (mashed potatoes) has now indeed become a luxury. Simply unaffordable!</b>
I do not know if the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and heir Rahul Gandhi have any interest in the films made by Manoj Kumar. After all, their family friend Shah Rukh Khan had treated Kumar with quite derision in Om Shanti Om. But it would be worthwhile to watch his 1975 make Roti, Kapada aur Makan. The film dealt with the issues of recession, inflation and unemployment with a telling effect.
All these issues prevail today. The film deals with the period when Indira Gandhi turned arrogant soon after leading the nation to a resounding military victory during the Bangladesh war and Congress to an electoral victory in the General Election on the catchy slogan of Garibi Hatao. The Opposition led by legendary Jai Prakash Narayan raised a successful movement against the government and dethroned it in the next poll in 1977.
<b>The Manmohan Singh government is lucky that the Opposition today lacks a leader of the stature and vision of Jai Prakash Narayan. JP despite his frail health and age, led an austere life, did not just fly austerity class, and took the risk of plunging himself in public agitation. Today none in the Opposition has the physical and mental strength to lead a long drawn public agitation on economic issues. This is Congressâs real advantage over the Opposition</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
pioneer.com
Sidharth Mishra
This Navratra has been a real struggle to come to terms with the ever spiraling rate of inflation. Several incidents during the last nine days repeatedly reinforced the fact that price rise has changed the way people looked at several things. Could you ever think in the past of walking to a banana seller pulling a hand cart with a currency note of Rs 500 to buy a dozen of bananas?
I actually approached a banana seller with Rs 500 note and sheepishly asked him if he would have the change. He asked, what was the quantum of bananas which proposed to be purchased from his cart. I said a dozen, he asked for the note. He packed a dozen of robust bananas into a polythene carry-bag (one thought a ban was in place) and returned the change after deducting Rs 40.
So thatâs banana split for you. It gives the flavour of mehangayi (inflation) this festive season. Before I had actually bought the banana I never thought that this ubiquitous fruit, made so popular in RK Narayanâs novels as staple food of an ordinary Indian, could actually cost so much. Two, seeing the banana seller counting the thick wad of currency notes has made me believe that soon the Reserve Bank of India would have to come out with currency notes Rs 2,000 denomination.
Bananas are not only the ones burning holes in my pocket this Navratra. Early morning everyday itâs a struggle to buy three proper garlands of marigold for a reasonable cost. Last year, it did not cost more than Rs five for one garland. The flower seller would also put some extra flowers into the packet as complimentary. This year they are asking for Rs 15 per garland and no complimentary extra flowers with it.
On the first day of Navratra, the devout buyers found the rates difficult to accept. The seller was ready to strain his several-year-long relationship with the buyers but not bring down the price. Thank God(dess), good sense has prevailed. From the third puja onwards, the seller has started to insert white beli flowers between the marigolds and is selling the garlands for a mutually acceptable Rs 10.
On returning home after buying the garland when I find the newspapers telling us <b>about Prime Minister Manmohan Singhâs address of worst was over on the economy front, a desire arises to suggest the economist-PM to take an early morning walk and try buying some bananas and marigold garlands. The Government, through the official figures it releases every week, has grudgingly accepted that there has been rise in the price of vegetables by about 44 per cent.</b>
<b>Itâs not true. Try buying the potatoes and you would know how hot they are. They have witnessed more than 100 per cent rise in price. Butter has vanished from the market and milk is in short supply. Pulses becoming out of reach of the aam admi is an old story and people are now waiting for rice to get costlier. So the common manâs two square meals of khichdi and chokha (mashed potatoes) has now indeed become a luxury. Simply unaffordable!</b>
I do not know if the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and heir Rahul Gandhi have any interest in the films made by Manoj Kumar. After all, their family friend Shah Rukh Khan had treated Kumar with quite derision in Om Shanti Om. But it would be worthwhile to watch his 1975 make Roti, Kapada aur Makan. The film dealt with the issues of recession, inflation and unemployment with a telling effect.
All these issues prevail today. The film deals with the period when Indira Gandhi turned arrogant soon after leading the nation to a resounding military victory during the Bangladesh war and Congress to an electoral victory in the General Election on the catchy slogan of Garibi Hatao. The Opposition led by legendary Jai Prakash Narayan raised a successful movement against the government and dethroned it in the next poll in 1977.
<b>The Manmohan Singh government is lucky that the Opposition today lacks a leader of the stature and vision of Jai Prakash Narayan. JP despite his frail health and age, led an austere life, did not just fly austerity class, and took the risk of plunging himself in public agitation. Today none in the Opposition has the physical and mental strength to lead a long drawn public agitation on economic issues. This is Congressâs real advantage over the Opposition</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->