Hi People. How are you all feeling? Hope everyone is doing good and keeping well. Today, we are going to talk about some important facts of life that we all vision whether in our houses or in our surroundings. Let’s talk about growing inflation and their effects both in our personal life and in our surroundings and how can we as an individual contribute to mitigating this inflation at our own level. 

I know that everyone had some bitter memories now playing inside their minds. Few have overcome that, and few are still juggling with and for few, the situation is totally uncalled for. So, let’s not keep everything locked inside our minds and hearts and let us share some experiences on this platform which may be relatable, and you never know that solution from one person can be applicable to your life as well

So, yes, let us accept this from whole heart that we all along with our country is going through worst inflation around. Thanks to Covid for worst 2 years of contribution towards inflation. During covid times, many people lost their jobs/ start-ups failed/ small scale businesses suffered heavy financial losses. People who lost their jobs did not belong only from categories like drivers/ our household maids/ security guards/ gardeners etc but even people from corporates lost their jobs due to cost cutting. And people whose jobs were still secured with big corporates and MNC’S, they suffered heavy emotional turmoils and longest working hours ever and consequently more need for medical attention. Not only this, almost every household, every society almost every relative and every neighbour of ours suffered with Covid and worst-case scenario where people were hospitalized and were no longer around us. This literally gave lot of emotional rides and roller coasters

Talking about Covid times, People completely lost their savings due to one or more family member getting hospitalized and then Lakhs of money went on a toss. The worst situation was where people recovered from Covid but went in heavy debts due to all savings getting depleted in Covid treatments. It was really very difficult for people to afford medical attention and treatments during these trial times. Hence even today these families are not debt free yet. 

Talk about the situation where due to covid, household helps (maids and servants) were restricted due to complete lockdown. They were just running their household from meagre amount of money which they were earning from every house. Their situation was simply from “hand to mouth”. Then talk about those people who were staying away from their small hometowns to biggest metro cities like Delhi/ Mumbai and Bangalore where cost of living touches the sky. They were in complete loss due to first they lost their job and second due ro rent they need to pay for the accommodation.

Now talk about start-ups, how are they going to survive? These start-ups many a times needs investments and manpower to have a check on tasks which again calls for investment. Start-ups which were started just 6 months back were completely shut down and with that huge investment suffered a loss. And of course, people can’t even think to begin start-up because they knew that saving money during these trial times is no less than a saviour. All those little FMCG shops had no relevance because people were dependent on their online platforms to receive daily usage goods and products. So again, they suffered a loss. 

Coming to Education and schooling systems, Teachers were teaching students online and unfortunately most of the schools were not paying their teachers. Again, coming back to students, parents were paying huge amount of fees for the online school classes, but you know what, parents started paying huge fees even on children tuition classes because children were not able to cope up with online schooling system. 

This is not it. Currently an ongoing Ukraine Russia war has hiked the oil/ Petrol and Diesel prices. Extreme climatic conditions with unwanted rain is causing serious damage to our crops which leads to hoarding and consequently overpricing on even the basic necessities of our life. I believe every one of us are aware about the coal crisis which hit India badly which caused high prices for electricity as well.

Now you tell me, aren’t these enough reasons for rising inflation around. It is very disturbing to see that our youth currently are sitting back home without appropriate jobs. Around 90 percent of our Indian population is not earning more than 20 thousand salary a month. Most of our corporate employees are underpaid and market correction is way ahead. Very often, employees are laid off from their jobs and unfortunately targets are new and highly paid employees. Many employees have suffered salary cuts and they are still at same salary package even after a year of returning to normal. Go to the nearest market and you will come to know that everything in the market is overly priced. Either the quantity is reduced with the same price or same quantity with increased price. Many of us have bought the 4 wheelers and 2-wheeler bikes to comfort our luxury but a time has arrived to lock these vehicles back in the parking else you would pay a heavy price for petrol. Look at the increasing prices for Fresh fruits and vegetables and you will not feel like eating them because seems like you are just wasting money. Trust me, more than half of the population cannot afford to have a single seasonal fruit as well. Pulses and Dals have become overpriced and at one time where it was told (“Dal roti khao prabhu k gun gao”- In English it means “Have Dal which is cheap and praise god to have it on your plate”). Do you think it is affordable for everyone? Average families could not afford education of their kids where there are more than 2 kids in the family. They cannot afford their books (ever increasing prices), their uniforms, recurring charges in their arts and crafts or annual functions etc. During covid times, we cannot even imagine as to how these kids would have managed online classes where every child required an android phone or a laptop with an internet connection. It was very disturbing where many people committed suicide due to one or the other reason. Do not go far, many well-known celebrities took these drastic steps and what to say about common man?

This is the real condition of India and ours. So, question is what you can do at your individual level to ensure that this inflation does not impact you…. At least you. Remember charity begins at home. Here are some points that I can think off.

1) Save you money: Please do not waste your hard-earned money to something which is not required. All of you are aware of saving facilities available in India in various forms. Remember today’s saved money can only help you in future

2) Fulfil your needs BUT control your wishes: Remember needs of all the impacted people (in fact entire India) can be fulfilled but wishes and expectations cannot be fulfilled even for a single person (If a person will even acquire one whole planet then also, he will not be satisfied and will crave for acquiring another planet)

3) Limit your lifestyle myths: Remember that you are not copying other’s lifestyle just to impress the society. It is easy to elevate your lifestyle, but it is very difficult to manage and keep it at par. It’s your money and you should be controlling it.

4) Have some long-term investment goals in place: I believe everyone is aware about investment planning in form of money/ land and of course gold. Please do as per your suitability.

5) Long term and early investment in medical insurances: I need not to tell you how important this investment is when everyone has seen covid crisis. Please remember, the sooner, the lesser premium.

6) Always have a secondary or dual source of income at home: Today’s jobs are highly unpredictable and hence always ensure that you have a backup plan to fall back upon when you are in crisis

7) Make sure that you always have at least 2 years complete salary saved so that during unforeseen situation, you can steer your boat well.

I hope everyone liked what I wrote. Pleas share your thoughts on the same and let us all take the responsibility of our own selves first.