Of increased prices and a book won

Auto fares in Bangalore are up from Rs 14 to Rs 17 minimum. It takes a while for the meters to be re-calibrated. For the past few weeks, whenever we travelled by auto, it was always one with an old meter. So there we were, consulting a printed list of revised fares everytime. Until yesterday, when we boarded an auto to go to the library.

A immediately noticed that the meter said 17 oo.

"Aai, the meter is not right." A.

"Hosa meter idiya? (Is it the new meter?)" I asked the driver.

"Haudu, amma.(Yes, Ma'am)" he said.

"The auto rates have increased, A. This meter has the new rate." Me.

"So now we have to pay 17 instead of 14?" A.

"Yes." Me.

"Why?" A.

"The government has recently increased the rate, A, because the price of petrol or gas, on which this auto runs, has gone up." Me.

"So because the autowallah has to pay more for the gas, we have to pay him more?" A.

"Yes, you're right." Me.

"So if we had to pay Rs50 to go till the library earlier, what do we have to pay now?" A.

Doing some quick mental math, "Maybe Rs 60-62."

"So everytime we have to pay him Rs 12 more. That means we will have that much less with us." A.

"That's right, A." Me. Told her about how everything goes up in price as a result of gas rates increasing.

We went along in silence for some time, during which I was mulling over the slightly more we always end up paying because of 'cannot get a customer from the outskirts,' or 'there is no change,' or the ubiquitous 'haggling' that Bangalore autowallahs indulge in.

"But Aai, then even Baba's office should pay him more. Otherwise we won't have any money left if we keep paying everyone more."

I hope the husband's employers are listening!

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Image Courtesy Amazon 

On a different note, I had written earlier that I had won a signed copy of Wake Up! written and illustrated by Katie Cleminson at a giveaway contest at a favourite blogger's blog, Playing by the book. The book arrived in the post yesterday, and A and I are thrilled with it.

WAKE UP!
Written & illustrated by Katie Cleminson
Published by Red Fox, an imprint of Random House Children's Books.
Ages:  2+ Read aloud, 4+ Read alone

The book takes you through a day of a child as he gets up, gets ready and goes to school.

It then takes you through his day at school, learning, listening up...and up... playing and having fun.

Then he goes to play after school, where he climbs trees, swings up...and up...on a swing, jumps and slides, and has a lovely time altogether.

Then he goes in to dinner with his family (consisting of a lion, a hippo, a cat, an elephant and a racoon!) to eat up...and up...until

it's time to wash up...and up...and then to choose the perfect book for bed-time reading and then to cuddle up...and up...and go to sleep.

A wonderful book. As she has told Zoe in her interview, Katie Cleminson uses a pipette to do her illustrations, with a lot of watercolours, charcoal, and pencil and brush for detailing. The lines have that slightly raw, scratchy look that I instantly associated with with the application of henna.

The illustrations are lively and you can almost feel the flow of the child's activities. They, along with the simple words of the story had A enthralled. Reminded me of the time when she was 2-4 years old, and her favourite bed-time story would be one with her as the central character doing all the things that she did in her day.

Thanks, Zoe. You can read her review here.