The Hindu : Kerala News : ‘How does one ignore children’s needs?’

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Thursday, May 08, 2008
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Kerala

‘How does one ignore children’s needs?’

Staff Reporter

Babu, a carpenter.

I have become used to price rise since those of essential commodities have remained high for quite sometime now.

Earlier I used to spend between Rs.600 and Rs.700 a month for provisions. Now it has gone up to about Rs.1,000.

Vegetables are bought twice a month instead of once every week. The intake of vegetables has reduced considerably. I used to get sufficient quantity of vegetables for Rs.100.

The same price now fetches very little. If the household and work-related expenses could be met with Rs.500 previously it now requires about Rs.1,000.

Due to this, I was forced to increase the daily wages in the range of Rs.300 to Rs.350. I used to charge between Rs.250 and Rs.300.

Usually, I have to lunch outside because of the nature of the work.

A decent lunch now costs about Rs.35. This will also have to be considered while fixing prices.

Expenses on clothes and entertainment was less earlier too. It has now been further reduced.

New clothes are bought once in a year and that too not costly ones. We go for movies once in three months or so just to keep the children happy.

We have nothing much to cut down since all our demands are need-based. No matter how difficult the going gets, one cannot turn down the genuine demands of children.

The price rise is stifling but I cannot change our lifestyle drastically.

That is not possible when one has a family, as it will affect my dear ones emotionally. No matter what the hardships are we never expose our family to them.

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