The Rangarajan panel recently gave a report that anybody spending more than `47 in a day in cities is not poor. Although `47 includes spending on the basic necessities like food, shelter and clothing, we decided to concentrate only on one of the three, that is food, to find out where and how much of it a person can get with that amount to fulfill his or her requirement of three meals a day. We started with breakfast and then lunch, and finally, dinner and found some places in the city where one can get quality food at cheaper rates. However, we still found it extremely difficult to manage with `47 to get three meals. Our main focus was to have breakfast plus two proper meals, which are a requisite for any working man unless you are on a rigorous diet. You can have your food at these places if you are running short on cash. “Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar” was the motto we tried to stick to. Ruchika Thakur explains:
Budget `47
Breakfast:
As we know, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We explored places which serve breakfast at a relatively cheaper rate. The menu, more or less consists of regular items like poha, upma, shira, though prices differed.Lokseva kitchen in Rasta peth is one such place which serves food at reasonable rates. It serves all three meals and is open till 10pm. It is popular with the working class and gets a daily footfall of 500 to 600 people at each of their centers, which are located in three different places throughout the city. They have vada pav, samosa, pattice (all priced at Rs10). People who work/live in the vicinity of Pune station, can have a cutting chai (Rs5) and bun pao (Rs7). You can also have India's very own burger — vada pav — at various stalls which is priced at Rs12. We had breakfast at Lokseva. It cost us Rs10. Breakfast at Shree Niranjan located at Ferguesson College road is a bit on the costlier side, with poha and upma priced at Rs20 per plate and managing the rest of the day with only Rs27 would have gotten a bit trickier. For people who keep a tab on their calorie meter, you can have salted corn on the roadside, it is tasty but may not be that filling
* Balance Rs37
Lunch:
After a light breakfast, we were really hungry and wanted to have a full meal. We headed out to look for a good affordable meal on a rainy afternoon. And we didn't have too many options. For the brave-hearted, egg bhurji pav (Rs40), rice plate (Rs50), omelette-bread (Rs30) served at food stalls near the station are good options. But we chose to explore other options as we were on a shoestring budget.
At Hamal Panchayat's Khashtachi Bhakar, each food item is priced at different rates depending on their quantity, like two bhakris (Rs6 each), sabzi (150 gm for Rs6), Besan (150gm for Rs4), Rice (200gm for Rs6) and at the end of the meal, if you have a craving for something sweet, you can try their laddoo (Rs5). Kashtachi Bhakar has been serving people affordable meals for the last thirty years. This non-profit organisation is headed by Baba Adhav, who does a commendable job because the food is not only cheap, the quality is good as well. At each of their 11 centres, they serve more than 10,000 people daily. The place also provides for all three meals. Though the sitting area is not that clean, it is manageable in this reasonable cost. We had a meal here consisting of 1 bhakari, sabzi, besan, rice plus the laddoo which cost us Rs22.
Akhil Mandai Mandal's Zunka Bhakari uphar kendra is the only centre in the city, where the rice plate is only for Rs20 which is quite filling with 2 chapatis, rice, sabzi and besan. This place only serves lunch and dinner.
* Balance Rs15
Dinner:
With only Rs15 left, we were in quite a fix. We were sure that we'll have to sleep empty stomach. But Deepak Paigude's Lokseva, offering different kinds of rice plates, gave us some hope. The cheapest one is priced at Rs15 which comprises 3 chapatis and a sabzi. If you want to have dal-rice, you will have to shell out five more rupees. Their complete meal with 3 chapatis, a sabzi, dal-rice and Jilebi is priced at Rs30. The cheapest plate fit perfectly in our budget and we were really full. Hamal Panchayat and Zunka Bhakar kedra also offer dinner but we could only afford the one served at Lokseva Kendra.
For people staying in inner west side of town, Shree Niranjan is a good option. It offers cheap thalis. The puri bhaji costs only Rs45 and their mini thali consisting of pulao, roti, dal and sabzi costing Rs60. Even though this place serves good food at a reasonable cost, it is still beyond a common man's budget. The place was the cleanest compared to other places but it was still beyond our stipulated budget.
So with a budget of Rs47, these are a few places that will be available around town for the three meals in a day. But we did find it a bit difficult to manage our expenses between the meals. It was only regarding food, so it is difficult to even imagine to manage expenses for rest of the necessities.
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