hit hard

During student days, inflation was only a term to be glossed over in morning newspapers. It was another jargon heaped on me just for the sake of what my parents called general awareness. In times of rising prices, my dad, the only earning member, used to cut down on his expenses to send me those extra bucks to ‘factor in’ inflation for a son living “in an alien city”. My account had to show sufficient balance for buying books that explained the exponential curves of inflation and for insulating me against any untoward eventuality. Also, for that expensive north Indian meal in the city of sambhar and dosa, for catching up on the latest Bollywood flick and for the never-to-missed weekend outings. Inflation didn’t matter to me, it was only of academic interest. In fact, it made me a little richer.
Cut to 2008: I am on my own, married to a working woman - as they say a double income no kids (DINKS) family with hardly any liabilities. Dad still earns and seeks no financial support from me for his old age. But now inflation has acquired an intimidating dimension. With the figure zooming to a 13-year record high of 11.05%, inflation is no more a term I can take casually like I did in student days. All my weekend plans and movies are on the backburner. Eating out in upmarket restaurants is a strict no-no. Unannounced detours to a friend’s place has come to a grinding halt. Even the huge season-end discounts at glitzy malls don’t seem to be attractive enough. Holidays to exotic destinations have been inadvertently postponed to next year. Because in the age of unbridled consumerism made worse by the crude shock of rising prices of essential commodities, I find my bank balance struggling to steer clear of the zero mark. What books couldn’t teach me all those years, I have learnt in the past few days from first-hand experience. Every Friday, shunning my customary practice of watching reviews of new movie releases, I switch to afternoon bulletin hoping for good news on the inflation front. These days I follow global oil prices more closely than the Euro Cup. Perhaps the only silver lining in the dark cloud of inflation is that I have acknowledged the conventional wisdom of financial prudence, practiced by my dad and his dad and so on. Now, my father’s advise on savings don’t sound preachy at all.