500 Rupees

What can you get for 500 rupees here in India? 500 Rupees is just over $10 to help you put it into perspective.

* I can get a driver for 2 Sundays - Full days. They charge 250 rupees for a Sunday (yep, only $5 a day).

* I can get all my fruits and vegetables for an entire week. Actually I usually start with 500, and have at least 100 rupees to spare. So technically under 400 rupees!

* I was able to take Milan to the ER and for just over 500 rupees get a doctor visit, an x-ray, and antibiotic medicine! Yes, that was 250 rupees or $5 for the doctor visit, the same for the x-ray. And another 60 rupees for the antibiotic! Shoot, back at home my co-pay was $25 for the doctor visit, and another $10 for the perscription!

* I can get lunch for two at pizza hut. This include a appetizer, drinks, and 2 personal pan pizzas. Actually the bill comes to 400 rupees and we leave a 100 rupee tip.

* For 500 rupees we can get the whole family massages - with a lady that makes house call. She does each of us for an hour!!

* A pedicure for me and Mira!

* Now here is the twister.... Yesterday I spent 525 rupees on an item that I would never spend that much for at home... any idea what it might be??? Think.... it is not so obvious..... OK, I will tell you... A box of honey nut cheerios!! Yup! A box of cereal was over $10!!

Looking at the list of all that I can get for 500 makes me wonder why I would spend that much on cereal!! Honestly, I did not know that it was that expensive! It was only when I looked at the bill and saw that the total was just over 1000 rupees, and the cereal was half of the bill!!!

It goes back to a post that I had done a while ago trying to explain how things that they can 'mark-up', they do, b/c they know that people will pay for it. But the essentials they keep in perspective!

How far can your $10 go back at home??? I am sure on a good 'sale day' armed with some coupons, you can get 4 boxes of cereal!!