Inflation --> ಹಣದುಬ್ಬರ -- ಹಣ ಚಲಾವಣೆಯ ಅತಿಹೆಚ್ಚಳ

Inflation, ಹಣದುಬ್ಬರ ಇದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಒಂದು ಸಣ್ಣ ಲೇಖನ

Each generation has its own way of managing money. Also a unique way of carrying it.

As a young man in the 1950s, Captain B L Ghei could buy a bottle of Coca-Cola for 25 paise. Those were the days when people had so little money that most of them carried their notes and coins in their pockets. Ghei, 76, gets nostalgic talking about the fifties and sixties, when he worked as an instructor with a flying club in Kanpur. He began his career on a meagre salary of Rs 430 per month.

“My take-home salary was Rs 390. I had a brown leather wallet in which I carried notes in denominations of 100, 10, 5, 2 and 1. The Rs 20 note came much later. My wallet had a pouch for small change, in which I carried 1, 2, 5, 25 and 50 paise coins. Unlike today, these had a value then,” says Ghei, remembering the good old days. He also carried a good luck charm in his wallet — “the umbilical cord of my daughter, wrapped in a plastic cover. I still carry it in my new wallet.”

Though Rs 390 may look like loose change these days, Capt Ghei lived life kingsize in the 1960s. By today’s standards, life was simple and cheap. Ghei paid Rs 47 as rent for a two-bedroom apartment and spent Rs 40 per month on petrol for his Vespa scooter. “I remember my wife buying cashewnuts for Rs 6-7 per kg. German Beck’s Beer then cost just Rs 1.75, while movie tickets cost between five annas to Rs 2.50 (for balcony) then,” says Ghei, adding that he was never a spendthrift.

Because cash flow was limited and people believed in simple living, they were meticulous about their finances. In fact, very few carried wallets those days. They preferred to keep their money either at home or in the bank. “I saved about Rs 10-15 monthly and managed to build my own house in 1972 for Rs 1.32 lakh after taking an LIC loan.”

Ghei believes money went a long way then. “The Usha ceiling fan I bought in 1961 for around Rs 100 was so reliable and sturdy that I discarded it only this month, 48 years later. My cleaning man is now using it. Today’s fans, like everything else, are lightweight and flimsy. I was also the first owner of a Vespa scooter in Kanpur which I had bought for Rs 2,499. It ran smoothly and was an object of desire wherever I went.”

Though he had very little cash in his wallet to spend on consumer items in his younger days, Ghei always understood the value of money. “When I retired as deputy operations manager of an airline in 1991, I was drawing a monthly salary of Rs 20,000. I saved judiciously, lived happily, went on holidays and made sure my children were well-settled.” That’s how they managed their money in those days.

The same thing if you apply and compare to today(21st Century). It is far far more, right ?