I have heard a lot about Indians (or South Asians) going overseas for a trip, and being really stingy with their money. At some point of time in the past, I'm sure it would have hurt. For some particular things like haircuts, I'm sure it still hurts. In places like the UK, where the Sterling exchange rate is really unfavourable to the Indian Rupee, it should hurt. But what about travelling to South-East Asia?
Right now, I'm in Malaysia on a 7-week long training. I would get a daily stipend that would be very comfortable considering my hotel stay (with the complimentary breakfast) and most lunches are already covered.
If I were a tourist, I admit I would have been tempted to convert everything to INR before taking a purchase decision. I also admit that I did that a bit the first few days I was here.
But now that I get paid my stipend in Malaysian Ringitts and spend my money here (wisely enough, I hope) in Malaysian Ringitts, should I still be in MYR-INR conversion mode?Ok... so some people will want to save the Ringitts and convert it to Rupees when we go back home. But surely statements like " (this) is very expensive here", or "...in India, this would have just cost 100 rupees, here it's 160!", are not very becoming of people especially with Educational qualifications that most Indians can only dream of!
So, would I want to spend my stay here thinking about how much everything costs in Rupees ,and survive on Fish & Chips like some people I know did when they went to London, or do I just want to enjoy?
2 comments:
hehe, good one! I used to be in the conversion mode in Tokyo till I realized that such a mode would make it impossible to reasonably enjoy even a single day anywhere outside India...
I still do engage in the conversion but that's just for the heck of it (except for today when I got a haircut.... ouch... and to think of the fact that I used to argue with my naai when he raised the rates from Rs. 15 to Rs. 20 :D
Hi Arjun - tht was a nice thought .. i m sure many of us who wandered away from the homeland would have gone thru this.. Me too .. saying tht i also believe that most of us also come over it sooner than later.. (for me the falling dollar has helped to make this transition faster :( lol) ..
I was reading a blog sometime earlier .. its like the 99 club .. if someone leaves u 99 USD at your doorstep all in $1 notes .. you would be looking out for the last $1 as u are smart enought to think that defintiely someone left 100 USD and the lst $1 USD has flown away .. you would spent endless time to find that last $1 .. only to miss the enjoyment/fun/ happiness that the rest $99 could get you ..
So i am sure you would not be in the 99 club! Enjoy your stay and enjoy the food! lol
P.S. Hope you remmeber me - Stress your grey cells and search for the keywords : "Kolkata 8E7"
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