GROWING PAINS: Inflation On My Mind

As a student, to me inflation was just a term to be glossed over in morning newspapers. It was another piece of jargon heaped on me for the sake of what my parents called general awareness.
In times of rising prices, my dad, the only earning member, used to cut down on his expenses to send me those extra bucks to factor in inflation for a son living "in an alien city".My accounts had to show a sufficient balance for buying books that explained the exponential curves of inflation and for insulating me against any untoward eventuality.
Also for that expensive north Indian meal in the city of sambhar and dosa, for catching up on the latest Bollywood flick and for the never-to-be-missed weekend outings. Inflation was only of academic interest to me. It even made me a little richer.
Cut to 2008: I am on my own, married to a working woman ��� as they say, a double-income-no-kids family with hardly any liabilities. Dad still earns and seeks no financial support from me. But now inflation has acquired an intimidating dimension.
With the figure zooming to record highs, inflation is no more a term one can treat as casually as in college days. All my weekend plans and movies are on the back burner.
Eating out in upmarket restaurants is a strict no-no. Unannounced detours to a friend's place have come to a grinding halt. Even the huge season-end discounts at glitzy malls don���t seem to be attractive enough. Holidays to exotic destinations have been postponed.
Because, in the age of unbridled consumerism made worse by the crude shock of rising prices of essential commodities, one finds one���s bank balance struggling to steer clear of zero. I have learnt in the past few days from first-hand experience what books couldn���t teach me all those years. I switch to afternoon bulletin every Friday, shunning my customary practice of watching reviews of new movie releases, hoping for good news on the inflation front.
I followed global oil prices more closely than football's Euro Cup. Perhaps the only silver lining in the dark cloud of inflation is that one has acknowledged the conventional wisdom of financial prudence, practised by my dad and his dad and so on. My father's advice on savings doesn't sound so preachy anymore.