Money hai to honey hai

This is not a review of Money hai to honey hai, nor is it a post describing how much money one ends up spending on a girl; but more a post on how much money one ends up shelling out in Bangalore. Let it be auto, house or even a small thing as parking space, you have to shell out money, money and more money. I see no end to this lust for money and this is the one thing, which makes me hate this otherwise beautiful city of Bangalore.

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credit: morewhat.com

I have lived in this city for more than a year now, I haven’t seen a landlord who demands a reasonable amount for a house, nor have I seen an autodriver who demands nothing more than what is shown on the meter (honest autodrivers exist but very very rare).

Why this greed for money? When did it all start?

Can the tech boom in the city be blamed entirely? Can the rising cost of living be blamed? Are people’s minds here so skewed that they try to cheat someone of his money at the earliest opportunity they get? Is it right to demand more money just because they earn at rates 10 times your salary?

Why do people who crib about “Bangalore changing” and relish good ol’ times, never reform themselves? Do they even reflect on their actions… at their hypocrisy? I say this because most ‘landlords’ I have met till now are pakka Bangaloreans.

Even govt seems to be doing nothing to help, we Bangaloreans shell out most for a litre of petrol; nor have they made any attempts to bring down land-rent rates. I know India is ‘experiencing inflation’ as of now, but this is artificial… manually created inflation.

I know I have raised questions without actually answering any of them.. that’s because I don’t have answers to them. These questions have haunted my mind for long and I wanted to share them with everyone, that’s all. Have answer to my questions? Please feel free to use the comments section…..

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26 responses to “Money hai to honey hai”
  1. S Avatar

    Hmmmmm money greedy or a necessity or out of habit or corruption???

    They ask we give so they ask yet again…it is a viscious circle of corruption which has been bred by us only…and trust me no city is better in it…each is a bad as other…

    Though I wouldn’t agree that inflation is artificial but yes nothing substanital has been done to curb it…Our government is busy with things like tod-jod in politics, nuclear deal, reservation etc etc

    Security is a sham…we can go on & on & on the situation is pathetic & frustrating…solutions??? God Knows….

  2. allirekha Avatar

    Hmmm.so u say all these probz are in Blore only ..eh?

    Is this post saying something about the grief of a young man who wishes to save something for the future…is that so Balu ? πŸ˜€

    People are running behind money … no answer how to change this greed πŸ™

  3. | Balu | Avatar

    @S
    Its not corruption exactly just greed. Can ordinary people demanding increasing their rates for no reason be called corruption? (i am a little confused phew πŸ˜€ )
    “Though I wouldn’t agree that inflation is artificial but yes nothing substanital has been done to curb it…”
    ..and I don’t think they are gonna do anything either! =0

    @allirekha
    No am not saying its Bangalore specific it is just that its at an extreme level here. Thats all. Things are getting worse by the day
    “Is this post saying something about the grief of a young man who wishes to save something for the future…is that so Balu ?”
    You read my mind πŸ™‚

  4. karmalove Avatar

    they do it..cause they know they can get away with it..and also know that people will succumb to it… πŸ™

  5. Reema Avatar

    I think this is a side effect of tech boom. Similar situation exists in Pune. the real estate prices are sky high and the landlords there also increase their rents within 3-4 months. Its the greed born out of jealousy of other people earning higher salaries.

  6. S Avatar

    When a Peon (who is an ordinary man) asks for money to let you enter an office, is corruption then any man asking money more than what we owe him/ her is a form of corruption.

    Agreed greed is the reason but he knows he can get away with it because we Indians are used to shell out extra money to get our jobs done. In case of an autowallah the case might be “inse kaun mooh lage paise do aur niklo”

  7. megcloud9 Avatar
    megcloud9

    /

    its sad but we dont have a choice really do we ?
    prices sky rocket every week ! i believe its d same formula in almost all d metros-no cash,no aish..yes,the tech boom is to be fairly blamed for it :?(

    and parking rates,god,at the malls it is ten bucks even if u park for ten minutes !

  8. Xylene Avatar

    When I was in Trivandrum, people used to blame the tech crowd there for increasing rents. The scenario is like this, five bachelors come for a house, the landlord says 5000… To them its just 1k per head, which is obviously cheap.
    But for a family its huge as its burdened by a person or max 2 ppl.

    Thats where the issue of rent comes into picture. also when people are getting lakhs as their monthly salary, their spending nature changes, they dont bargain anymore (because they can afford it). Have you noticed that sometimes we dont too. But think of our dad/mom, they used to bargain at the fish shop, at the textile shop, everywhere, because each rupee/paisa count(for them).

    We dont do that anymore. We spend money and yes the people at the receiving end gets greedy, because they get what they want. ask 10k, 20k or 30k for a 2 bedroom house, you get it !. because there are people who are ready to pay.

    Greed and ‘jada’ is at the highest now. I took my mom to commercial street telling her that we get cheap stuff out there. She wanted to get bags, and some stuff.. When I bargained, the person is stubborn. I realized that if I dont buy from him, he knows that the next person would.
    So he wont just care.

    Everything that goes around comes around. You never know when everything is gonna be haywire. When things reach its peak and saturation point, it will remain there. May be things wont change or go back to where we were.. but may be it will reach the peak and remain there.

    Such a beautiful city….. but…

  9. ish Avatar

    Well, I don’t have much to say on the matter because I don’t know much about it. But I think it must be because the city is relatively richer, has software people and MNC’s and stuff. As Xylene said, when people earn more, their spending habits change. And so do the shopkeepers and the autowallah’s around them.

  10. | Balu | Avatar

    @karmalove
    and also cos they don’t get the danda

    @Reema
    There is equal amount of development in Chennai but rates are comparatively low. That’s what pisses me off about Bangalore

    @megcloud9
    I agree all metros have it but Bangalore is the worst

    @Xylene
    Yeah hopefully it will stop going up sometime (law of gravity? :-P)
    It is understandable if the rent goes up 1-2k but demanding 10k for a house that’s worth 5k is atrocious

    @Ish
    Just take care you don’t finish your college and up in Bangalore. and in case you do bring a sack of money (you might have to sell off yur “red-lady” too πŸ˜‰ )

  11. ish Avatar

    Lol, I’ll take care I don’t end up in Bangalore. And anyway, there’s still at least 5 years to go before post graduation is done. God knows what will happen till then.

  12. | Balu | Avatar

    @Ish
    Yeah yeah.. may be I will enter politics and change the city by then
    (Bring down rent and come hard on autos with tampered metres πŸ˜› )

  13. S Avatar

    Money is what human’s run on. Money literally makes the world go round. Wish it was love and other fuzzy things, but sadly as much as I and you wish, it isn’t.
    Taxes, inflation and death. If you can escape either of those three, let me know how!
    We as humans were made to cheat, steal, rob each other of what we’ve got. Plus in Indians there’s that uber survival gene where no one else is allowed to be happier or richer than you. Maybe I’m just having a bad day and ranting plus I’m probably having one of those moments when you realize what a cruel sick world we live in…but it IS true. Money makes the world go round and even spin out of control.

  14. Vijay Avatar

    Look at it from the landlord’s point of view.. hes having to live in inflated times as well…

    Why are we only looking at the landlords and the auto guys (no sympathies there)… what about everyone demanding a 20-30% raise everytime? Arent they greedy?

    Its a vicious cycle… and I dont think its restricted to Bangalore.

  15. Nikhil Avatar

    Yeah, being in the second costliest city in the country has its perks though! For starters, Bangalore’s got a peculiar hold over me which doesn’t allow me to be in peace in any other city in the world! Hey, it’s home after all! πŸ˜€

  16. Xylene Avatar

    Vijay,
    We tend to attack the Landlord and the autowallas on our blogs, well we cant do it in person. πŸ˜€
    You are right the everyone is greedy we are never happy with the raise ever !

  17. | Balu | Avatar

    @S
    That is one depressing realisation πŸ™

    @Vijay
    That depends on if the landlord is a “professional landlord” or not.. you get what I am saying? If the landlord is dependent on the rent for his income I mean. I don’t have anything against auto guys. Its just that they should demand a good fare and stick to it instead of throwing on-and-a-half, double meter demands

    @Nikhil
    The city has a hold that’s true. I myself don’t want to leave the city now πŸ˜€

    @Xylene
    now with that comment you have inspired the blogger in me πŸ˜‰ buhahaha

  18. Vijay Avatar

    @xylene: lol…
    @Balu: Agreed on the Auto Fare thing…

  19. Prax Avatar

    balu simply speaking it is sheer demand and supply economics
    including in it desperation of large demand and no supply .
    add to that the mismanagement of the city planners in not forcing people to make pvt pkg spaces and not giving sufficient fsi . Same with autos and others money is the worlds biggest religion now – no-one gives a rats ass about ethics
    and leadership top down is corrupt

  20. Prax Avatar

    banalore is now what mumbai was in the 90s
    mumbai is dying but banglore can atleast expand as it is landlocked but there is no policy and votes and money still decide how things get done

  21. Ruhi Avatar

    I think Bangalore auto walas are really dishonest. Don’t know about the landlords though. Yeah, the city is not what it used to be. I haven’t stayed there for long, but the quality of life is quite low compared to the salaries that people generate from the software industry. It’s second only to Bombay, I feel.

  22. India - Travels in my nightie Avatar

    It’s all relative I guess. I’m a foreigner who has been living in the city for five years. I’ve certainly seen some changes in that short space of time but Bangalore is still incredibly cheap when you compare some of the service costs here with what you’d pay in Britain, where I come from. As I say, it’s all relative of course but if I want to get a plumber in England to come and look at my leaking tap, he’ll charge me anything over 40 pounds (INR 3200) just to LOOK at it. If he fixes it, that will cost you the same again, maybe more. Here, my plumber will come out, do the job, fix a couple of other odd bits and pieces AND run an errand for my wife – 250 rupees. Not bad πŸ˜‰

  23. | Balu | Avatar

    @Prax
    Talking of autos they might introduce 50k more in teh city :-0

    @Ruhi
    I won’t say quality of life is low however I would say its dipping by the day

    @Chailey (India – Travels in my nightie)
    Thats an altogether diff angle. I have heard a lot about cost of living in UK; never associated with Bangalore,I would hate it Bangalore turns out to be something like that in the future

  24. Prax Avatar

    in mumbai there may be 3 times the official number of autos and cabs plying the city

    be prepared for that to happen

  25. | Balu | Avatar

    But i heard Mumbai autowallahs are really nice, honest guys; that so?

  26. Prax Avatar

    though they may be better than the bangalore people mumbai auto guys are no saints – only more sofisticated – most have fixed metres – some will make a buck whenevr possible but yes i agree some are good

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