We love replicating anything the West has to offer. From their reality shows, soap operas, songs to films… with the Indianised version.
This concept however cannot be tweaked to a 1 ` Store.
I mean what would one get for one Rupee? While we have a new symbol, nothing much has changed.
When I was younger, I would wonder why grandparents harped about one anna ( 6 paise ) and what it was worth. Now, I know better. I find myself talking about the times money got me more goods, the times when a rupee coin was not left carelessly on the table.
I paid a princely sum of Rs 6/- as fees per month for class VII (No, I did not go to the local Zilla Parishad school). But a popular private school. Prior to that, the fees might have been lower, but I was not entrusted with the task of carrying the money, as I traveled by public transport....what if I lost the money enroute? My mother would come personally and make the payment. Bus fare was 7 ps for the journey of 4 kms from home to school. We normally had 10ps with us and the conductor always returned the change .
I found a diary which my mother kept for everyday transactions. It makes interesting reading.
It says:
Milk - 3.78 Rs
I remember there were about 6 half liter milk bottles, so that was probably the cost of 3 liters of milk.
Bread - 0.70 ps
Supplies - 0.70 ps ( I wonder what supplies meant!)
Plantains - 1.0 Re - that could be for a dozen
Udaya Stores - 45.00 Rs ( was that for the monthly provisions?)
It is precisely the reason why I found the project that Jonathan Blaustein ( a photographer) undertook when recession hit the economy, very fascinating. He checked what he could buy for a dollar across the world.
And so on a ‘jobless Sunday’ – not really, I finished all my chores in the morning and am taking a well deserved rest – I thought I would do a survey of my kitchen and with some rough calculation arrived at what a rupee would buy.
Take a look -
2 tbsp wheat flour ( barely sufficient for a small roti) , 30 ml milk ( a few cups of dilute tea) , 5 bhendi ( insufficient for a curry ), a small ladle of sugar ( enough for the diluted tea) , a tablespoon of dal ( sufficient for seasoning), a lime ( may make a small glass of lemonade), half a handful of red chilies ( to spice up a curry) and two chocolate eclairs ( that might make a litle kid happy).
A 1 ` store just would not work!!