WHOSE DIME IS IT ANYWAY??

Plate meals(veg) - 35
Meals(non-veg) - 80 
Curd rice - 18 
Pulav - 18 
Tomato rice - 20 
1 cup kheer - 10 
Fruit salad - 20 
Soup - 30 
Dosa - 15 
Tea - 5 
(*Rates approximated) 
The price list looks like that of any other in the next street hotel. For a change, have a look at the below price list: 

Plate meals(veg) - 12.50 
Meals(non-veg) - 22 
Curd rice - 11 
Pulav - 8 
Tomato rice - 7 
1 cup kheer - 5.50 
Fruit salad - 7 
Soup - 5.5 
Dosa - 4 
Tea - Re. 1/- 

If you are thinking that this might be the price list in the same hotel 2 decades ago, you are slightly mistaken. 

Keep reading... 

Today we are caught between the devil and the deep sea. If on one side we face rising needs with increasing influence of consumerism, on the other, the exorbitant price rise laughing hard on us. However there is one place which is totally insulated from the sky-rocketing prices. It is the place which guarantees equal (?) rights to all its stakeholders – the Indian Parliament. If one steps into our parliament canteen, one might see the price list as in the 2^nd table above. And look who’s getting these facilities. The poor destitute of our country, fighting hard (?) for the people who invested (again a ?) their valuable vote in them, spending a bunch of their energy on being the voice of the dear people?? The people we elected to the highest office with a hope of lessening our burdens eating their hearts out at our expense?

When the country is gaping at about 15%+ food inflation, the right and the left blame the center and the center on the states and once they are done with their blame game, they dine together in parliament canteen without a tinge of shame and thus maim the hearts of countless fellow citizens. They might probably discuss the causes of price rise while wiping off the subsidized food. An irony, isn’t it? They don’t even realize that they are a bigger part of the problem or do they?(If this is the case then God save his own country!!) An honest citizen would at least feel ashamed to fill his/her stomach at others expense. Tell this to our ‘leaders’. They fire back – ashamed? Is this a new word in angreiji just like avatar?

Whose dime is it anyway? Our country is so populated that even if half the taxpayers pay their taxes honestly, our leaders can lead a ‘happy enough’ life. Leading, in our leader’s lexicon, might imply leading his life happily whatsoever. And the worse part, this is not gonna change soon. The change would require our MPs to debate on the issue and probably pass a bill to cut off the unreasonable subsidy and match the rates to the current levels. Even a child would laugh at such a proposition. The last time (well, it was also my first time) I saw the entire parliament united was in the issue of salary hikes and perks, well, to themselves. Couple of years later, they started screaming at the CEOs and executives salary.

Coming back to food price inflation, instead of I-blame-you-you-blame-me attitude, every single MP can do his/her bit by refraining to burn a hole in honest tax-payers pocket. They should understand the consumer’s difficulty in balancing his life among various priorities. They should understand ours is a land where it is preached to serve others before you serve yourselves. A mother in our country says she does not like apples if apples are 3 and the members in the family, four. It is the nation where annadaana is considered greatest of all forms of service. Yet we are led by those who loot people at every instance possible and guess what! They loot legally (disguised as subsidy in this case)! Certainly India never fails to surprise!!

It happens only in India?!?

PS: Due to distorted Demand-Supply equation affordable food prices are but a temporary phenomenon according to a report by Equitymaster.

Is anybody listening?