Money over Lunch.

While having a discussion with one of my uncles over lunch about how economy of the country affects common man, he crudely remarked, “It doesn’t make a difference anymore!” On asking why he told me the following story.

“There were times when the prices used to rise and people used to protest. During the 70’s and 80’s even if the vegetable or petrol prices rose by a rupee, political parties used to take up arms and there used to be riots. When was the last time that happened in this decade?” When I had no answer to this question, he further continued. “Now days the layman has become smart. He has realized that by protesting with these parties nor are the prices going to drop and neither will you come out of the riot unharmed. Who is going to pay for the injuries you might sustain during protests? Plus he has realized that all this is just the dirty game of the politicians who will have a party with the same people the next day. It’s just that the every-day man suffers.”

Then I asked, “But if there is no change in the prices even after protesting or not then again the common man only suffers!”

On this he smiled and asked me, “Do you know the labour charges in Mumbai? For a simple job of tiling work in the house the labour charges for a semi-skilled worker is Rs.800-Rs 1000 a day. If they do overtime, then extra. So roughly their monthly income ranges between Rs. 30,000- Rs. 40,000. Even a lower middle class family doesn’t have this kind of income but the so called ‘labour-class’ has! And off course there is another huge side to this whole story. The labour class is earning in thousands plus the salaried class is also reaping the benefits of our economy. Almost every salaried employee has had an increment in his or her salary in the last one-two years. When there is more purchasing and spending power in your hand, what difference does a change if price in petrol make? Yes, more money will go out but then your salary too is more. A layman thinks that if my monthly bills are going up by 1000 rupees more but on the same hand my salary is increasing by 5000 Rupees more, it really doesn’t make a difference. This ‘doesn’t-make-a-difference attitude has brought about this entire change of outlook in the new generation. You’ll will never get down from you’re a/c offices to protest for a rise in onion prices because you know that your purchasing power has increased. And that hasn’t only increased for people working in MNC’s. It has increased from the lowest rung of laborers to the top bosses. This is why it doesn’t make a difference anymore.” he concluded as we polished of a delicious lunch.