Monday 31 August 2009

What I spend money on


A lot is being spoken about inflation and GDP these days and I recently chanced upon an article on how obsolete the WPI (Wholesale Price Index) calculation in our country turns out to be. (For people to whom this acronym makes little sense, The Wholesale Price Index or WPI is the price of a representative basket of wholesale goods. Some countries use the changes in this index to measure inflation in their economies, in particular India). That kick-started a new train of thought about how one spends his/her money these days.

Coming back to the WPI argument that I intended to make, the calculation still considers what Indians used to buy in the 80's. A bucket that includes a whole lot of age old consumer goods like GoldSpot, Cibaca, Palmolive, Vanaspati and hair oils that are not to be seen in the market these days. Now,coming down to what I (a middle class Indian consumer "today") spend my money on. It ranges from a relatively high amount towards the realty sector in the form of house rent to a moderately high amount towards books which are prone to smell the aroma of fresh paper in the shelves after years and years to come.

The month usually starts on a bright note marked by the routine SMS that the banker sends to indicate a salary deposit into the account. I mean, the first week of the month makes you feel happy as the double digit figure, that appears on the account balance field each time one goes to the ATM to draw money, attracts attention. The second week starts on a slightly doomed note with a proportion of the money that made you rich for a week debited automatically towards a couple of EMI payments. As a result, the breakfast menu in the second week shows up "3 idlis and chutney" for Rs.10 in place of the the Kellogg's cornflakes (rich in cereals) that showed up last week. The last week of the month does not have the item called breakfast in the day's itinerary at all whatsoever. What now? Food drew up a few thousands in the first three weeks.

Weekends usually contribute a lot to the big hole in your purse as a rule and i don't stand to defy anyhow. A Sunday morning reading ritual at Coffee day/Barista over a costly cup of coffee is a routine list item till the third Sunday of the month.Tamil is an extraordinarily beautiful language and it has an amazing term to describe this aforementioned behavior on Sunday mornings -"S****u Kozhupu". Weekend instincts ask for the "periodic inebriation" (If i am allowed to coin a phrase for convenience purposes) once again and it takes up a few hundreds out of your pocket. Now, to peep into the accounts file, one gets to see an amount of the order of 1763.85 or something of the like at the end of week 3. Ten breakfasts, luncheons and suppers to be taken care of till you get richer once again by virtue of another deposit.

Landmark visits, Night time cool drinks, McDonald's home delivery, Domino's Pizza, Bike petrol, Adidas/Reebok 40% sale, Big bazaar super dooper dhamaka offers, Kwality Walls Ice creams and super market pastries/chat items are other contributors which effectively contrive to throw you into a state of poverty close to month end.

It is Week No.4 on the calendar and one goes broke!!!

With my cell phone in hand (which needs a top-up asap) and eagerly looking forward to getting that SMS which comes on the last day of each month, I sign off wishing the working class readers of this post a rich month ahead.

16 comments:

Unknown said...

Dei Working Class implies the Daily wage labourers, factory workers and construction workers who are paid minimal wages and not the Upper class Over-Paid IT workers who read your Posts!!!

Unknown said...

@Vageesh:
"Over Paid IT Workers" is a typical oxymoron in today's world. That industry sucks big time and on this question of pay, never has it been satisfactory. Coding monkeys are very much in line with the so called donkeys of the lower working class. You belong to the elite "Management" Class an no wonder you scornfully mock at these readers.

Unknown said...

Thereby failing to see the intended simile on that occasion. IT is a laborers' industry. Read Dilbert for citations..http://www.dilbert.com/

sayee said...

inebriation?????? c'mon man... wtf is wrong with u??? like "s****u koluppu" there is another word.... mappu....

Unknown said...

@Sayee:
Konjam decent aa eludha vida matingale... Seri enna vaartha adh? It doesn't come to my mind in a flash. Could be attributed to my prolonged absence from Singara Chennai

Unknown said...

@Sayee:
Did you mean "Sarakku"?

praveen said...

Money.Ha!!!That is a brilliant concept invented by economists so that we keep slogging our collective arses off without ever pausing to contemplate the meaninglessness of it all.

Unknown said...

@Praveen:
I love that observation. "Well Said Bro". I wonder how the world would turn out to be if only Money did not divide Men into the wealthy and the impoverish!!

Btw, Have you gotten rich already? Got the SMS yet?

praveen said...

Not yet.But waiting for it eagerly :D

Navin said...

I can see a whole balance sheet in progress here :) . Keep enjoying the time till when you get the monthly deposits . Come next year and hopefully you will be slogging your "rear-end" for non-monetary and educational benefits :)

Unknown said...

@Navin: Lol. I can see how burnt up your rear end looks.

ashwin ronaldo said...

I cannot believe it that you crib about not having enough money despite ur hefty pay package.(I hope ur aware of ur total net worth) .Dude Dont explicitly mention how much u earn amd how u spend ur money on public forums.Beware!!!!!!!!!INcome Tax officials can hav a look.

Unknown said...

@Ashwin:
Dude, I know how much sarcasm is stuffed up in that comment of yours. The only thing that i want to emphasize is well said in a tamil adage - "Aanavathla aadina andhar balti than". UK pora nu thimiru la adadha.

raghu said...

nice one!

Unknown said...

@Raghu:
Thanks Buddy, Long time no see. Updates in life?

raghu said...

Not so good...not do bad...still on job search...lets gtlk sumtime