Penny Wise...

Yesterday, I watched a movie called “Loins of Punjab”, an evening show at the PVR – a bungled up effort of what could have been a much better film with a rehashed storyline and slicker editing. Though the movie was entertaining for its duration of less than 100 minutes, my friends and I unanimously agreed that it was not worth the Rs.210 (special weekend rate for a seat which didn’t even recline) we spent on the ticket, not to mention the exorbitantly charged popcorn and Pepsi (and the parking charges for the vehicle, I quipped). It seems such a long time ago that a film ticket used to cost Rs.10 or Rs.15 in a decent theatre and the up-market ones hardly exceeded Rs.25, but, it was not so long ago. The better part of my college days were spent at various theatres around Bangalore, when Bangalore still was a city for the pensioners. The first genuine mall came up in the city less than five years ago and in these five years, that I have been away for the better part, it sure has changed for the worse.

“Disposable Incomes.” I do hate this phrase, the two words that have been cited as being responsible for much of the woes of any big city today. In Bangalore, the effect is only more noticeable due to the large IT crowd. I don’t work in an IT or IT-related company, and probably make more money annually than most of my IT friends. But, I am flabbergasted at the “easy come, easy go” approach of the IT horde towards money. My friends and neighbours whom I’ve seen growing up in middle-class families, not much different from mine, where both parents had to work to ensure a comfortable living, are now splurging like there’s no tomorrow. The call-centres, IT boom and the BPOs may have given them a financial freedom the previous generation never had but I don’t agree that it has made them financially any wiser than their parents. Of late, it has become a hobby of mine, watching the antics of this affluent pack in any coffee shop or multiplex, flaunting their nouveau-rich status akin to the plastic ID cards they sport. I have never been parsimonious and my fiscally arduous childhood has ensured that I can never be a spendthrift. It is one lesson that I did learn rather early in life and hope I never forget.