Money Matters

Inflation is troubling me.

Not only is my life suddenly plagued by its multiple manifestations but, I have also somehow been coaxed into doing a math project on the topic. The BJP, the CPIM and various political parties in India are trying to gain a little attention by cribbing about it (Surprisingly this still does not give inflation any credentials) and it is receiving a hell lot of attention from the media as well (at least it was until Lalit Modi’s childhood caught our imagination), hence another article on the topic is not really welcome. But the topic I focus on today is not really inflation and its effects on the WPI but rather inflation and its effects on the goods we have purchasing since we got our 1^st weekly pocket money .

Inflation first came into my life when I was 9 years old. I used to study in Jasudben Manilal Lalubai Experimental High School and of the many facilities this wonderful institution offered (cement road for throw-ball, same cement road for volleyball, school bus etc...) one was the canteen. The canteen of JML (as it is popularly known (for obvious reasons)) is easily the most important building in the school and it was most famous for its Pav- Vada. When I was in the 4^th grade pav-vada cost Rs3.50p, in the 5^th prices rose till Rs 4 and by the 6^th prices was sky high at Rs4.50p. Now I left school in the 6^th but I’ve heard that the prices just kept going up. If this isn’t inflation then I don’t know what is. In this case the school clearly took advantage of the fact that they held a monopoly over a captive market filled with customers with pea sized brains and 10 bucks to spend. The same sly trick has been played on me by my Sev Puri Valla, my slightly upper class Pani Puri Valla and even the guy who sells Mangola ( MRP doesn’t stop him, he has increased the so called “Cooling” charges). As we grew older our purchasing power improved and for the 1^st time we knew what it was like to buy our own movie tickets. It was great in the beginning, Gaiety had 35 buck tickets and the intermission Samosa was 10 bucks. But now our beloved Gaiety is selling some of its tickets at hundred rupees. UTBT was always expensive but now they have marked up prices by 15% citing inflation in food prices as their alibi. Inflation indeed..

You could argue that if prices were not raised businesses wouldn’t be able to make profits , you could say that inflation in raw materials might force companies to raise their prices anyway – these would be perfectly reasonable arguments, IF not for the presence of the Max orange stick. Unlike almost any other product I have bought, the price of the Max orange stick ( now known as Paddle Pop ) has NEVER changed. I remember buying this ice-cream as a 7 year old kid for Rs 5. Almost 10 years down it still costs exactly the same. And it’s not as if the orange stick has not been affected by competition - Amul, cream-bell and some other companies have all tried to sell rip-offs but these duplicates met with no success. Not once has the price of the orange stick changed. And mind you it’s easily the best ice-cream in the world. It does not have milk or chocolate like most other ice-creams and contains nothing but water and some orange flavoring, but it tastes absolutely brilliant. But sadly this amazing ice-cream is becoming rare, the reason – inflation in pocket money. Children tend to believe that the more expensive the ice-cream, the better it tastes, hence ice-creams like feast and choco-bar are becoming really popular. This sadly means that the 5 Rupee Max ice-cream will eventually disappear from grocery stores…

Watching cricket

People might tell you that watching the match live, in the stadium is not the great experience it use to be. People will tell you that the DY Patil stadium is in the middle of nowhere and that tickets are too expensive. To a certain extent I agree with all these complaints, but I must tell you that even the horrible host is not bad enough from keeping me away from Navi Mumbai because once you are in the stadium (for the duration of 4 hours) you are completely safe from the onslaught of advertisements which are generously peppered with cricketers, film stars and cricketers girlfriends ( If they are not film stars). But not only do u delete the non-cricket parts of the match but also you escape the utterly commercialized and dehumanized part of the game as well and for once you can feel safe when you celebrate that amazing six without worrying whether someone is going to sue you for not calling it a DLF maximum.

Now I have been brought up listening to cricket on the radio (I studied in a boarding school) and am not new to the world of sponsoring but there something distinctly different about – “Yeh BSNL Chauka connecting India “and a Carbonn kamala catch, or a City moment of success or a DLF maximum or any of these other horrendously ostentatious name which have taken away the joy from a game which really is so amazing that it is quite hard to make boring. And to worsen things when the match does indeed get a little monotonous (for example when KKR is playing) we do have the MAXX mobile time-out to liven things up. I often wonder how a commentator like Ravi Shastri (who is indeed a little corny sometimes, I can never forget his Uthappa comment) who is normally so interesting can bring himself down to the level of reminding the audience every few minutes about that god-damn blimp and also the “Spirit of cricket” which as you will all know by now is a piece by one of the foremost contemporary artists in India ( sorry if I can’t remember his name, but I’m sure you do ). But of course im ranting now am I not – advertising must have it’s good side, take for example the United Nations Environmental Program Tip of the day – Dropping Catches Drops matches but Dropping Catches causes …… Pollution, really catchy don’t you think? (I salute you Mr. Shastri for saying this in front of TV with a stern face.)

Now of course I really do not need to say anything bad about the money, or the corruption or the fixing ( I have a source but you got to pay me 5000 a game) the media is you would expect having a field game but I would like to try offer my take on one misconception – the other day I heard a teenager argue that the IPL brings India fame, really that must be a good thing. Not to be outdone someone else added that it also creates world peace, after all when would you see Andrew Symonds actually being cheered on by an Indian crowd.