Sunday, January 13, 2013

Visiting the neighbors


Our neighbor Pappu to his wife: “Sometimes Jon gets 10 rupees of subsee/poori for breakfast!”

Wife, appearing shocked, “10 rupees for breakfast! Really?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I guess the food is cheap here for them?”

Rose, “Yeah.”



10 rupees is the equivalent of 18 cents. 10 rupees of subsee/poori buys 4 pooris, each made with a piece of dough the size of a plum, and about 10 ounces of delicious potatoes and chickpeas. While the subsee/poori man does good business in 5 rupee and 10 rupee increments, most people in our neighborhood are limited to tea and dry biscuits for breakfast. A typical budget for some families in the slum is only 100 rupees a day. Our current budget works out to around 400 rupees a day, not counting trips outside the city, language school, or and health insurance, and there are only 2 of us!

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