Indians visiting the US quickly learn about the cost of living here. In recent years, people from Bangalore visiting smaller cities in mid-west US do not get very surprised when they see price tags at stores. Heck, this time around I felt that Bangalore is costlier than Austin for most daily use items. (Of course, you aren't making the mistake of comparing the price inDollars against equivalent Rupees, are you?). It is not just about petrol, for which we 'poor' Indians pay twice as much asAmericans do. But when it comes to anything involving manual labor, there is no comparison in costs! India is order of times cheaper. Of course, cost of whatever we have in large quantities will be lower. We have a lot of people!
One of the best examples of this is the cost of a haircut. I have seen desis who, even after having lived in US for 5-10 years, still plan for two haircuts during their 1-month India visit - one just after landing and one just before leaving India. So when they land, they normally have enough hair on their head to appear in Dabur Amla hair oil ad, and while leaving, just enough not to show their skulls. So desis still find the cost of a haircut unfathomable. Another complaint I have is the quality of haircut. After having paid 13 dollars for the haircut and 2 dollars in tips, I am disappointed with the skill level shown by the hair cutters. They have diplomas in hair cutting, for godsake! Oh, I may be missing something. They may be preserving their skills for the 'special' haircuts I see in their catalogues. But I am not going to spend upward of 20$ for a haircut!
May be one day hair cuts will be outsourced from the US. The only hurdle is finding a way to get the haircut done over a telephone line running all the way to India.
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