Rich... Poor

This is the land of no middle class. It is really evident. I just learned that our house is worth $800,000!! Almost a million dollars, really! It is nothing fancy. It is about 2700 sq ft, 4 br, not a huge yard. It is the fast rising real estate here that is driving these prices. Now, think about the driver that earns about $200 per month. How can he move up into a decent house? With these prices, not possible. The other end of the spectrum is the price of food. Not luxury food, but the basics, fruits, vegetables, etc.. Fruits and veggies are about half the price (or less)from home. Examples of some prices: large cucumber $.25, 4-5 bananas $.25 Bread loaf $.50 So the basics are affordable to support the lower class. Now, the imported things, or luxury items are 3 or 4 times the price. Example - pancake mix $5, prego spaghetti sauce jar $6, peanut butter $4 for a small jar. They mark up the things that they know people will pay for!!

It is like the 'haves' and 'have-nots'. I guess we 'have' a lot more being here in India. But with the 'haves' come the things that we 'have-not'!

Haves:
We have a satellite dish (similar to cable) - this is big deal since we never had cable at home
We have a flat screen tv - some of you know what we were using for the last 6 months before we left (a small 26 inch tv)
We have attached bathrooms to each bedroom
We have a driver
We have a maid
We have a gardener

Have-nots:
We don't have our family and friends near by
We don't have the freedom to drive
We don't have an oven (hopefully soon!)
We don't have taco bell

Really all jokes aside, I think that at the end of the 2 years we will definitely have a new appreciation for the value of the things that we have, and help those that have-not!