Cost of Living in Bengaluru

 

Photo Credit: Yours truly

We had lunch at the Iyengar’s Inn in Jayanagar, Bengaluru, about two weeks back. We had asked our driver to join us, and ordered three plates of Puliyogare. I was curious to know what an Ambode is (it is a Vadai) and so I ordered one; the others did not want it. The bill was for three half-plates of Puliyogare and my Ambode. My wife asked the man at the counter if the half plate would be sufficient. He said it would be more than sufficient. What about our driver, who is younger? The man at the counter said it would be sufficient for him as well! The total cost was only Rs 160! I asked for a bowl of Morukozhambu. They gave it to me and did not let me pay for it!

Three lunches and a few cents less than two US dollars! It tells us a lot about purchasing power of the Indian rupee!

The Puliogare was exceptionally good. We noticed that there was a crowd of customers. You stand and eat at this restaurant. Some stand on the sidewalk outside the shop and eat. The place was clean, and the staff were courteous. Most of the customers were young people. A lot of them were wearing what Bangaloreans call a corporate thali! An RFID tag on a tape to let them into their offices. So, clearly this restaurant caters to the middle class!

I checked the prices of a few grocery items on a site that does home delivery:

Peanuts: Approximately 230 Rs/Kg (less than 3 US$)

Raw rice: Rs 48/Kg

I also noticed the calorie content of each:

Peanuts: 600 Calories/100 grams

Raw rice: 350 Calories/100 grams

So, it is true! You can buy the cooked food you need for sustenance at less than 3$/day in Bengaluru!

Caveat: I am not asking the Reserve Bank to do anything to raise the prices!

Srinivasan Ramani

Can you add years to your life?

 

I wrote an article recently about reduction in peoples’ Longevity due to  Covid-19. This was in Hindi along with an English version. You can visit https://hindimestem.blogspot.com/2022/10/blog-post.html to read it. If you do not read Hindi, you can skip the first half and go to the English version. The loss of years of life suffered by the victims of Covid-19 are shocking! Some of the causes of these high death rates are equally shocking. Noteworthy is the unreliable information on networks about vaccines. Most of the Covid deaths were of people who had not taken the necessary vaccination.

Let me move on to talk about the risks of alcohol consumption. A report from the prestigious CDC in the US Alcohol and Cancer Risk Fact Sheet - NCI says:

“Based on data from 2009, an estimated 3.5% of cancer deaths in the United States (about 19,500 deaths) were alcohol related”.

It also says
“In fact, a recent study that included data from more than 1,000 alcohol studies and data sources, as well as death and disability records from 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2016, concluded that the optimal number of drinks to consume per day to minimize the overall risk to health is zero”.  

However, the shibboleth continues to be propagated that it is okay to have “two drinks for a man, and one for a woman, per day”.

What is the increase in cancer risk for a person taking one drink every day? It is considerable. The British  Medical Journal  (https://www.bmj.com/content/362/bmj.k3944/rr-3 ) says: In fact the main characteristic of alcohol is it is a human carcinogen (Class 1) even at a low level.

The magnitude of the problem can be understood by looking at the number of cancer deaths per year in the US.  The US National Institute for Cancer had reported in 2020 as follows:

In 2020, an estimated 1,806,590 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the United States and 606,520 people will die from the disease. Visit Cancer Statistics - NCI

Heart Diseases and Blood Pressure

• An estimated 17.9 million people died from Cardiovascular Diseases in 2019, representing 32% of all global deaths. Of these deaths, 85% were due to heart attack and stroke. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) (who.int)

• If you’re age 40 or older, or if you’re at higher risk for high blood pressure, get your blood pressure checked once a year
  Get Your Blood Pressure Checked - MyHealthfinder | health.gov

Let me move on to the last topic in this article: air pollution. A report of the World Health Organization says that 4.2 million deaths per year are caused by air pollution Ambient (outdoor) air pollution (who.int)  That is the 2016 estimate. What do you think? Would it have gone down in the following years?

The action item for this topic is to look up air pollution data for the last six months. (Do a browser search for

Air Quality Index Your-city-name Your-Country-Name

Example: Air Quality Index Bengaluru India

                One of the search results returned is

                Bangalore Air Quality Index (AQI) : Real-Time Air Pollution ).

If you find that you are living in high pollution area, pack up and leave! Find a place that offers you a safer atmosphere! You don't want to be one of the 4.2 million in the near future!

Srinivasan Ramani