Hi, Pranesh, I'm with you on this. I work as a translator in Canada and my husband is a landscape architect (ergo non-IT salaries). We face this situation all the time when I get together with friends either here or India. In Canada, we eat at home almost 95% of the time for a variety of reasons: our unbearable mortgages for dinky apartments; pricey food in restaurants because the ingredients are almost all imported; short local growing season of two months that permits us to devour berries and fruit in July and August and then watch prices climb into the clouds, etc. Ergo, my friends are almost always invited home.
But obviously, there are times that I have to meet new contacts for work. I make sure it is always a coffee date, never lunch/dinner. The worst part is that I hate the coffee outside - I make a great espresso at home with Lavazza coffee beans for a fraction of the cost. But that outside coffee I can absorb thinking it is an investment for future gains. On a more humorous note, I've noticed that my offspring, who is growing up surrounded by wealthier people than us in the neighborhood, has a very distorted view of what is cheap and or expensive and it doesn't seem to have much to do with the value of the item. Recently, he and I evaluated the cost of my nightwear that day - a silk salwar and a linen blouse. When I pointed out to him that the two together would add up to roughly $150 in North America, he said that he knows people who've spent $3000 on a single sleepwear outfit. I thanked him for his condescension and then explained that since I was very poor, it made no sense for me to give him an allowance, or humor his interest in boxing lessons, etc, etc ad nauseum...hahaha. Nowadays, the said offspring is keeping daily accounts for a year to gain an understanding of how much is needed to "survive". It's all fun though and in that I recognize my privilege. My son and I have both had serious illnesses and Canadian health care has come through at a high level of care without a cent charged to us. I am grateful. Best. Radhika
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