Cost of living & other grandma’s tales

When I was younger, my grandmother constantly exclaimed how expensive things were; how everything was way cheaper when she was a housewife in Delhi managing a household of five; and how, at the time, she paid for everything in annas — from rice, dal and sugar to ketchup and apples.

‘So expen, so expen’, her favourite exclamation, is now part of the family lexicon. The phrase reminds my siblings and I of mei-eit (Khasi name for maternal grandmother), now 93, bedridden and largely oblivious to the world except for scattered moments of lucidity.

The word ‘expen’ accurately conveys to our family a grandmother-like distress at the way prices have increased. As we grew older, and as bigger denominations of currency notes were printed and smaller ones vanished, we started concealing from her the cost of things we bought just to spare her, and ourselves, the trouble of hearing another reminiscence about how most things cost hardly anything when she was younger. So she wasn’t told the cost of buying a few goodies for evening tea, a new pair of shoes or her wrinkle-removal cream that one of her grandkids used to buy her every few months. But that never stopped her from asking, ‘how much?’

I wonder what she would think of prices today. Shock probably wouldn’t even begin to describe it. The price rise that distressed mei-eit took place over at least 20 years. This one has taken place in less than a decade. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, it’s happened over the last seven years.

I can be this precise because I remember prices of goods before I moved to Mumbai and after. As regular readers of this column will know, I first moved to this city in 2005. That was seven years ago and a separator in my brain as far as time is concerned.

One of my responsibilities in Noida, where I lived with my parents and our menagerie of brothers, sisters, roving cousins and dogs, was to order the household rations. It wasn’t exactly officially my duty; I got the job by default because I cooked a lot and therefore knew when we ran out of supplies. So I can say with confidence that I know my prices.

So, 7-8 years ago, mutton cost Rs 100/kg, chicken was Rs 60-70/kg, masoor dal was Rs 28/kg, a 5-kg bag of atta was Rs 65, and jalebis cost Rs 60/kg! Today, in Mumbai, mutton is 400/kg, chicken is Rs 140/kg, masoor dal is Rs 70/kg, a 5-kg bag of atta costs approx Rs 150 and jalebis cost approx Rs 160/kg. I am aware prices are subject to change depending on brand/locality, so please don’t write in pointing out that atta is available for Rs 100/kg wherever you live (and that’s likely to be Bandra)!

For those too lazy to do the math, percentage-wise, the cost of these food items has risen by 100-300 per cent in seven years.  By how much have salaries increased in this period? That’s a calculation each one of you should make.  

What about vegetables? When I was younger (ie 7 years ago), vendors told you the price of vegetables per kilo. Now, you are told the price per 250 grams. Like I was telling someone the other day, I am yet to come across anyone selling green vegetables for less than Rs 8 for 250 grams, even  a lowly vegetable like tinda! That works out to Rs 32 a kg. No wonder then that I feel like my grandmother when I echo ‘so expen, so expen.’