Yeh kitne ka hai didi?

My maid asks me pointing at the onions? Ek kilo ka kitna hai? I look at her blankly. I have no clue how much one kilo onions cost! I go to the sabzi wala point out the veggies I need and the quantities. Sometimes I ask him the price but its more of a “ I know the prices elsewhere so don’t try to cheat me” strategy. I mumble something at her, reel off a totally arbit number. 18/-. She looks at me sometimes in surprise (if the price is too high) sometimes in grudging admiration (if the price I have quoted is too low.) or mostly with a sagely look. “Sab kuch itna mehenga hua hai abhi. “
I heave a small sigh of relief and relax with my coffee. Yeh ek kilo ka kitna kai? She points at the bru packet. I again stare at her blankly and mentally grind my teeth. Won’t she ever give up? I mumble 100/- sure that is way too high. Once she is off I surreptiously pick up the empty packet and check the price. My eyes pop out! 180/- for 200 gms!!!! And here I am coolly telling her 100/- for one kilo! Is BRU so expensive? I though Nescafe was expensive. Isn’t that why I was drinking bru? My confused mind rambles on.
It is with a small jolt that I realize its been quite a long time since I looked at the price tags. I remember religiously doing so when I was in MBA. When I had to survive on my meager pocket money and manage the long phone calls (at that time mobiles were horribly expensive. Even incoming calls were charged. Yes there was a time like that long long ago.) Then I used to check the price of everything, buy the cheaper one, even if its cheaper by just one rupee. After landing a job and coming to Bangalore, I don’t remember checking prices. How many of us really check the prices now? I look at people in the supermarket. They are all like me. Just take a packet, look at the label and dump it in the cart and move on. There is no shock or outrage at the prices. We keep reading about inflation and how the cost of living has gone up, but its only now I realize the truth. I now look at the prices and try to memorize them so that I don’t fail the next question by her :-)
Or else an even better way is to hide the entire shopping bags before she comes!!!!!!