Rs 1,000 For A Tea? NRI's Viral Rant On Rising Prices In India Sparks Outrage
His Instagram video, where he recounted being charged a staggering ₹1,000 for a cup of tea at a luxury hotel in Mumbai, has quickly gone viral, crossing half a million views and sparking conversations across platforms.
Balochi, who frequently travels between the UAE and India, said he never expected to feel financially strained in his home country. 'As an NRI, I never expected to feel poor in India,' he remarked in the viral clip.
'How can converting dirhams to rupees give me a shock? It used to be the opposite.'
With one UAE dirham currently valued at around ₹23.83, he admitted the experience was eye-opening, suggesting that even those earning in stronger foreign currencies are no longer immune to India's rising expenses.
Traditionally, NRIs have enjoyed a currency advantage, finding India far more affordable compared to their lives abroad.
But Balochi's comments highlight a shifting reality, where skyrocketing costs in metro cities are beginning to mirror if not exceed those in global hubs like Dubai.
His candid rant resonated with thousands of viewers. Several NRIs and locals shared their own experiences of being stunned by India's inflated prices.
'Every time I visit Bombay, I'm shocked it's as expensive as Dubai, sometimes more,' one user commented. Another added, 'Finally, someone said it. I always feel 'gareeb' when I come back to India.'
The discussion has opened up broader concerns about India's cost of living, especially in metropolitan cities where basic expenses from dining to housing have sharply increased.
While some argue that the prices Balochi encountered reflect luxury lifestyle choices, others insist it mirrors the growing financial strain even middle-class families face daily.
For many, his viral outburst is more than just about a pricey cup of tea it has become a symbol of how urban inflation is reshaping the way people, both locals and NRIs, view affordability in India.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New Indian Express
42 minutes ago
- New Indian Express
APTDC launches digital campaign to attract tourists
VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) has rolled out an extensive digital media campaign to promote the State's rich array of tourist destinations, spotlighting its historical, cultural, and heritage landmarks to attract global visitors. Through a series of captivating videos on digital platforms, APTDC aims to showcase the unique allure of AP's iconic sites. These videos are crafted to engage both domestic and international tourists, with APTDC encouraging viewers to like and share them. In Pedana, the campaign emphasises the town's status as a hub for Kalamkari, a traditional art form using natural dyes. The video highlights the intricate craftsmanship of artisans, showcasing Kalamkari's significance in Indian heritage. Mangalagiri's handwoven textiles, recognised with the prestigious GI tag, are celebrated for their quality, intricate designs, and vibrant dyeing techniques. It also underscores the spiritual prominence of the Panakala Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple, portraying the textiles as symbols of heritage and craftsmanship. It highlights Bhattiprolu's historical significance, particularly its 3rd century BC Buddhist stupa. Noted for some of the earliest Telugu inscriptions, Bhattiprolu is promoted as a historic trade and educational hub worth visiting. The Undavalli Caves, a marvel of rock-cut architecture from the Vishnukundina era, are showcased as a must-visit site. Featuring temples dedicated to Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara, the caves are recognised as a centrally protected monument of importance.
Indian Express
43 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Against All Odds: British Airways air hostess, partner of Mika Singh in ‘Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa' and elite dog trainer – Pune woman's inspiring journey
On a quiet farm fringed by a field in Pune, the morning soundtrack is a chorus of cows, cats, and the happy barks of rescued dogs. This is home to India's first and youngest graduate of the prestigious British Institute of Professional Dog Trainers (BIPDT), Tanushree Rakshit, a woman who swapped the glamour of international flying for a life dedicated to four-legged companions. Tanushree, 53, lives in a modest cottage on her farm, which also houses a therapy centre. The land, pieced together plot by plot, is shared with three mature cows, four calves, and a small army of cats and dogs, all rescues. 'Every single one of them has a story,' she says. Her own story began in the skies. As a young air hostess with British Airways, she was based in Mumbai when she brought home her first puppy and hired a trainer. But a single, unsatisfying session where the trainer couldn't even teach the dog to stand sparked a curiosity that sent her across the world. In 1993, at just 22, she applied to the BIPDT's annual Easter course in the UK, a programme normally for seasoned professionals. Quarantine rules meant she travelled without her dogs, making her the only participant without a canine partner and the first Indian face they had ever seen there. She failed her first attempt. But a chance encounter with a celebrated British trainer, who 'could have been my mum,' led to an extraordinary mentorship. Every week, during her London layovers, she would take trains and buses for up to seven hours each way to the trainer's remote Lincolnshire village, learning hands-on among German Shepherds, ponies, ducks, and goats. The following year, she returned to the BIPDT transformed, passing as the youngest graduate in the institute's history. Her curiosity never stopped. In California, she trained with Canine Companions for Independence (CCI), an elite service-dog centre funded by Snoopy creator Charles Schulz. With a $12,000 course fee and an impossible eight-week leave requirement, she struck a deal to volunteer, learning alongside professional trainees without paying a dollar. Back in the UK, she worked with the Lincolnshire Police Department training search-and-rescue dogs, even seeing a three-legged Border Collie clear certification, proof, she says, that 'disability doesn't mean inability'. Away from the training fields, she has always been a performer and an athlete. As a student, she was an extraordinary gymnast and aerobics enthusiast, making her the first candidate representing India at the World Games Finals. Even prior to this, her flair for performance took her to the television stage, where she danced as choreographer and partner to Mika Singh in 'Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa' Season 2 in 2007- the same year that she quit her job as an air hostess and decided to devote herself to canine welfare. In India, however, her vision met resistance. Hospital directors welcomed her therapy dogs, but some doctors dismissed the idea. She persisted, conducting therapy sessions in institutions like KEM and Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, and advocating for therapy animals in paediatric orthopaedic units where children endure long recoveries. 'In the US, even burn units, where patients are most at risk, allow healthy animals because of the proven drop in pain levels when patients touch them.' She has seen firsthand how her therapy dogs make a difference. 'When children in pain hold a dog, their faces soften, their breathing eases, it's like the pain takes a backseat, even if just for a while.' Tanushree chose never to marry, and after losing her parents, she has never truly been alone; she shares her life with her beloved 'pawmily', a family bound not by blood, but by paws and unconditional love. Her farm today is a training and therapy hub. She and her dogs visit hospices, paediatric wards, and care homes, bringing comfort to the sick and elderly. She even ran a marathon with her differently abled three-legged dog, Sahiba, who runs like wind, all by her own, to raise awareness on adoption of differently-abled dogs. 'I have always said the disability is in our minds, not in them,' she adds. Distressed, like most animal lovers, about the recent Supreme Court order mandating the capture of stray dogs and their placement in shelters, she says,' It's a very illogical decision that has failed every time any country has tried it. Secondly, we do not have the infrastructure to even implement it. If we cram all the dogs together, there will be a rise in zoonotic diseases, which will finally affect us humans only.'
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Last Word: John Arlott and a slice of cricket-writing history
As the Indian cricket team was making its way around England during an exciting cricket series, I spent some time with John Arlott. Or more precisely, the book he wrote on India's tour of England in 1946, the first series after World War II. India were led by Pataudi Sr., and lost all three Tests. There is something exciting about the start of a tour. In England those days, tourists played First-Class matches against the counties, traditionally starting with one against Worcestershire. I love the way Arlott (in pic) tells it in Indian Summer: 'On the morning of 4 May 1946, I sharpened six pencils, pocketed a new notebook, looked out of the window of the perfect cricketers' hotel beside the Severn at Worcester, congratulated myself on having left my grey flannel suit at home in favour of a tweed suit and set off for the first real cricket match for six and a half years.' There's a slice of cricket history there; so too cricket-writing history. Here's how the Indian team got there, in Arlott's words: 'Gradually, in twos and threes, the Indian team arrived, their heads ringing still with the noise of airplane engines, to wait in vain for their sea-borne cricket gear, to skid through a mud-and-rain-bound mockery of net practice at Lord's, and to leave, on the evening before the game, for Worcester — in a coach that lost its way in the Midlands and deposited them at their hotel shortly before three o'clock on the morning of their first match…' This was another time, another world. Shubhman Gill and his team didn't play First-Class matches at Worcester or anywhere else; if their bus got lost on the road, it would have become an international incident. This current Indian team has the world's No. 1 all-rounder and left-arm spinner, Ravindra Jadeja. So did that 1946 team. This was Vinoo Mankad, 'his rebellious straight black hair gleaming, laughter richly present in his deep-set eyes, he bustles powerfully through his short run and bowls with a thick left arm.' Arlott might have been writing about Jadeja when he said, 'His over will last little more than a minute, ….(he) never allows a batsman to rest.' How was the first post-War Test received? 'It was', says Arlott, 'attended by the sun, who saw very little First-Class cricket in 1946. On the first day, 29,000 people watched the play in varying degrees of cramming.' This wasat Lord's, where the England captain Walter Hammond caught Vijay Hazare at slip, 'with an unhurried ease which suggested that he had been warned in advance.' Indian Summer is a slim book. Before the appendix (statistics), there is this:'….you sir, who have followed me relentlessly with your pencil to mark off my errors — you may have the appendix and I have no doubt that you may be happy with your figures while I slink off and attempt to arrange to pack my bag again.' The cricket might have been disappointing, but the writing about it was fabulous!
