Spiralling cost of Food! - my perspectives

We have all been experiencing steady rise in prices, from rice to pulses to vegetables. Papers are full of theories and so our our enterprising vendors:-). Its really amusing to hear them give their reasons so emphatically. Once I was told that the vegetable prices shot up since Karnataka and AP witnessed unprecedented floods and trucks couldn't move and so the prices were up... Three months later the same guy tells me very earnestly, there was heavy rain in Ooty and landslips and so vegetable prices have gone up! I am amused and also confused and I wonder where the vegetables to Chennai come from??

And if you readers remember approx prices of commonly consumed vegetables a few years ago, there is a very interesting trend.. Beans, carrots and potatoes and tomatoes, lady's fingers were all at one price band of Rs 15/Kg while capsicum, baby corn, broccoli, zucchini were all at Rs 35 / 500 gms. Now, this price rise has come as a great leveller, all veggies - common and rare, are now on par, >Rs 40/ Kg. Wonder why / how...

A year ago, any decent joint in Chennai will serve you a dosa, vada and charge you ~ Rs 50/ - whilst a pizza was Rs 100/- . The same dosa vada costs Rs. 100/-  now and regular pizzas at Smoking Joe's / Dominoes are still about Rs 120/-. Some kind of levelling is happening alright, for good or bad:-).

Also, this price rise, rather inflation, has other interesting observations too. Prices of essential commodities have gone up 100% in most cases this past 1 year while non essential goods like digital camera, dvd player, memory stick etc. are crashing... Reminds me of a conversation I was having with somebody who had returned from Tokyo. He said, a watermelon costs more than a fancy watch there!!

Like it or not, looks like we are heading in that direction