Australia diaries..part 3

When my 10 yrs old grandson asked me how much do I earn then I could not reply in real terms of purchasing power of currency in their respective countries. The same question often my driver has asked about what would have been his salary in Australia.
Often I have heard parents in India boasting about how much  their off springs earning by converting dollar to rupees.
This has been the real issue,the value of money.
Coming back to my grandson I explained that when he goes for haircut he pays 10 dollars which in Indian rupees would be 500, remember it is the cheapest cut by Chinese hair dressers here in Australia. Whereas I get my haircut done at 50 rupees in Kolkata, the shop where for the last 25 yrs I have been going.
The other day we had a plate of aloo chat at 10 dollars or for 500 rupees here in Australia which in India would have costed me about 60 or so.
If you want to engage a driver for your car in Australia then you may have to pay anything between 30 to 50 dollllar an hour,so no wonder one drives his own car even in their old age. There are some old scoots here who are adventurous enough to divorce their old wives and marrying younger Filipinoes who not only give them company but also drive them around. As far as I am concerned I don't drive car any more,last time I drove was in 2000,my driver's license expired in2009 so for going long distance we are dependent on our son or daughter in law,of course sometime get picked up by DrTan,Keith, Tiare,Sharon etc.
Getting any work done by others one has to pay that 50 dollar or so per hour. So better do the cooking, house cleaning,dish washing,lawn mowing etc yourselves. Again I am unfit in this manual work department,back home we have masis for cleaning, washing etc and of course Gopal drives me around, it's company's car,I sold of my car in 2000,I don't own any car now. Whenever I am in Delhi I use battery rickshaw to move around of course mostly I walk.
I remember first time while I was playing golf here after tee off I started walking off when Amer my son's friend who was playing with us shouted at me," Baba,you left your golf trolley!" I turned back and started dragging my trolley,back home in Kolkata my golf bag is carried by my caddy who even locates my golf ball. While we were playing tennis here we had to pick our balls,no picker like what we have in Tolly Club.
In short it's do it yourself to survive with the salary what you get. Any service cost money.
So I really could not fully explain my grandson the purchase power of currency in respective countries. The services in US is comparatively cheaper than Australia because of parallel economy run my illegal immigrants mostly from Mexico.
In Kolkata where I stay there mostly NRIs stay,after retirement mostly have come back for this reason,here they get cheaper medical,driver,masis and the works.