Growing up days – learning how to manage finances

Yes, believe it or not, I learnt how to manage my finances from my college days. The art of extending the purchasing power of two rupees – in those days, two rupees was a lot of money, exchange rate of one dollar was around five rupees.

Today, I cannot get a toffee or chocolate for two rupees and the exchange rate of a dollar is around sixty plus rupees. Anyway, the distance from my house to my college was big – it would take at least one hour bus journey plus a bit of walking to go from Lake Town, my residence, to Park Street where my college was situated.
And – my daily pocket money was just two rupees – within that framework, I had to go to college and come back plus have tea and snacks plus pay for my fags plus take in a movie. It was a tough proposition and I mastered the art of doing just that.
The route to reach my college from my house had three options – first I had to reach Shyambazar 5-point-crossing and the only means was by private bus – its conductors were very strict, they never allowed to travel without ticket.
From Shyambazar, there were three routes. First, take a tram to Moulali, changeover to another tram and get down at Park Circus. From there walk down to my college. This was the cheapest method because in trams, there was a second class where the fare was less.
Second option was to take a tram or bus from Shyambazar to Wellington Square. Then a second tram to Elliot Road. And – then walk down to my college. Here again, I would save some money but it would take a bit longer because of heavy traffic.
The third option was to take a bus from Shyambazar to Park Street direct – here the time was a major factor because the bus route was through busy streets and heavy traffic.

Therefore, with three options available, I would weigh the various options once I reached Shyambazar and decide on my route of action. The rates for movies were 65 paise in front stalls where seats were not reserved, Rs 1.05 for the next stalls, Rs 1.15 for the middle stalls and Rs 1.40 for rear stalls. I had to save that amount every week to take in a movie per week. (to be continued…)