The Hindu : New Delhi News : Overwhelming odds for upcoming Sarkar

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 17, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

New Delhi

New Delhi

Overwhelming odds for upcoming Sarkar

Kunal Diwan

– PHOTO: KUNAL DIWAN

UP AGAINST ODDS: Rising inflation has made life hard for Civil Services aspirants in the Capital.

NEW DELHI: With the civil services prelims round the corner, Sabine’s historical narrative of political theory is not the only thing on young Chandan’s mind. A dental graduate who switched his loyalties to political science to crack the UPSC puzzle, Chandan knows he faces overwhelming odds in the home stretch to the exam, not just because of the ruthless competition involved but because of an incapacitating cash crunch that has threatened his up to now unwavering steadfastness towards academics. Engrossed in his books for the better part of the day, and night, he has now set aside an uninterrupted 20 minutes to tally up on the day’s expenditure.

Residing like so many of his ilk in a one-room terrace accommodation at Mukherjee Nagar in North Delhi, Chandan says his monthly expenses have shot up from Rs.5,000 this past December to almost Rs.7,000 now, with moderate to marked elevations in rent and food products among other things.

“I am fortunate that my younger sister has picked up a job back home in Bangalore and has dutifully mailed me her ATM card. Six months on my own have literally taught me the price of living. I realise now that most commodities are costlier because I have to go out and purchase everything myself,” he adds, putting on a shirt and getting ready for his evening excursion of thought gathering, an activity he considers essential to reinforcing whatever he has read through the day.

Chandan’s roommate Lakshmi Patel, also from Karnataka, steps gingerly across the room avoiding the heaps of chronologically arranged periodicals and heads for the kitchen. He flares a match and in the same consummate motion lights the gas stove to prepare tea, observing ruefully that the beverage too has become expensive.

Patel, 26, says he shifted to Delhi after the famed allure of the Capital’s coaching class network. On his third attempt now and with persistent parents asking him to give up on the civil services dream, Patel knows this is crunch time for him. “I was in Hyderabad earlier. The living costs were quite manageable but the coaching there is not a patch on what it’s like in Delhi. Forget food and drinks, most of our expenses are on study material and expert guidance. Coaching costs anywhere Rs.18,000 to 20,000 for a six-month course. Even a single mind-cleansing trip to Connaught Place would set us back by at least Rs.500. We bus when we can, but lack of knowledge of the city enforces use of auto-rickshaws at times,” he adds.

All along the derelict road that passes through Mukherjee Nagar are establishments let out to students immersed in the all-consuming preparation for the civvies. Like most university towns, students and related activities form the major pivot around which the local economy revolves. Juice shops, xerox centres, snack points, tea houses, a rundown cinema, book and stationery stores and a sprinkling of betel-nut shacks are the primary beneficiaries cashing in on the massive number of students who in future may well turn out to be the formulators of the country’s economic policy.

Twenty-seven-year-old P. Navin of Warangal’s M.E.S College, who is also a part of the dogged community of Mukherjee Nagar’s IAS aspirants, says most of his monthly grant is expended on scores of magazines and photocopying costs. He reels off a slew of names when one expresses suspicion over his claims: “Civil Service Times, Frontline, South Asia Politics, Economic and Political Weekly, Science Reporter….and these are not all. Magazines available only a month late down South are on the stands a week before the printed date in Delhi. The same goes for most books on current affairs,” he says, adding that even publications had not been spared the ravaging clutches of inflation.

“Why magazines, the xerox guy has started to charge more too. The last option is to cut down on avoidable expenses such as eating out and unnecessary phone calls,” he adds.

A representative of Gupta Book Store in neighbouring Gandhi Vihar, another student-centric habitation, echoes similar sentiments. “As fuel costs go up, so will the price of all transportable items, including books,” he observes.

Further down the road, Philosophy post-graduate Anurag Kureel from Allahabad University ruminates on the intricacies of the delimitation of constituencies as his housemaid clangs her presence felt from the miniature kitchenette; she too has demanded a 200-rupee raise on her salary citing “rising prices”.

Sounding naively confident of surmounting the first hurdle of the prelims in his first attempt, Anurag says though prices have gone up, he has not really had the time to think over them. “All of us are in the same boat right now. This place used to resemble a fairground in the evening, but now it is deserted all the time because every aspirant worth his salt has gone underground. I will worry about the prices once I am through with the prelims,” he adds, returning to the voluminous text he is cradling in his lap.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

New Delhi