Reacquainting with the Rupee: Adjusting to Inflation
One side effect of a rapidly growing economy is inflation. In the US, I was accustomed to stable prices for essentials like milk, eggs, and fuel. Prices hardly budged during my stay there. But in India, the story was vastly different. Prices had soared, and I was about to experience a rude awakening.
Having been shielded from day-to-day expenses by family and friends during my short stints, I was not exposed to everyday prices of essential items so far. But now that I was here for a longer time, I took the task of shopping for myself on my own. Since, my wallet was mostly full of US credit cards and a few dollars, I Whenever I needed rupees, I’d just borrow from Mom. One day, gearing up for a trip out, I casually asked for some cash.
“Here,” Mom handed over 5,000 rupees.
“Mom, I don’t need that much. Just 1,000 should be fine,” I replied, taken aback by the generous amount.
She flashed a knowing smile and reclaimed 4,000 rupees. Little did I know, she was setting me up for a crash course in Indian economic realities.
An hour later, I returned in a state of shock.
“Mom! What’s going on with India?! It’s absurdly expensive! That 1,000 rupees you gave me vanished in an hour! And it wasn’t even for anything lavish,” I exclaimed, flabbergasted.
“I did warn you. Here, take this 5,000. You’ll need it,” she replied, grinning.
I took the money quietly, blissfully unaware that another shocker was lurking just around the corner.
A few days later, I visited Delhi and was staying in a decent hotel. At night, I felt hungry, so I called the hotel restaurant and ordered some snacks and tea. When the server arrived, I handed him a 20-rupee tip, thinking it was a generous amount befitting the hotel’s reputation. He accepted it politely, but I noticed a subtle surprise in his eyes. As I enjoyed my snacks and tea, I casually glanced at the bill and nearly choked—500 rupees!
Accustomed to tipping between 10-20% in US restaurants based on service quality, I realized my cultural miscalculation. What should have been a 50-100 rupees tip, an amount of 20 was embarrassingly low. I felt so guilty that the next morning during breakfast, I sought out the same server and discreetly slipped him a 100-rupee note along with an apology. He graciously accepted, his expression now understanding, perhaps amused by my cultural misstep. It was a moment that made me reflect on how much India had evolved, while my perception of it remained frozen in time, lagging behind the reality of its rapid changes.
