As we were driving back from the Top Station this afternoon, we passed some women cutting tea trees on a tea plantation.
We pulled over and the woman in the foreground asked my driver (in the local language) if I would like to give it a go! So, I chopped away for a few seconds (and had a brief moment of gratitude that I am a lawyer). The women seemed happy. The climate is nice, and they kept chatting away as they were cutting the tea. After I completed my tea cutting lesson, the woman grinned at me in that you-know-you-want-to-tip-me-for-this sort of way. I asked the driver if I should give her some rupees an he nodded, so I reached in my bag and handed her a 500 rupee bill (about USD $10) and hopped back in the car as she tucked it in her waistband.
Ali, my driver, had a really big smile on his face when we drove away. I asked if that was enough to give her (tipping is really an acquired skill around here). His reply: "Those women make about 60 rupees a day."
That's just a little over a dollar, folks. Stop right now and think about that. They were smiling while performing manual labor for a dollar a day. (And I just gave her a "tip" of over a week's wages).
Ali and I started talking about salaries and costs of living in the US versus India. He asked how much a private driver would make in the US, and I guessed about $45,000 in a pretty good-sized city. He said drivers' salaries in India would range between 1000-10,000 Rs a month, which comes to about USD $200-2,000 per year.
Of course, the cost of living is vastly different as well, and more difficult to calculate. I asked him if he knew how much law school tuition costs, and he said about Rs 2000 for 4 months ($40). Then the big question: How much do lawyers make?
"About 5,000 a month," he says. That seemed more reasonable, and kind of surprising. Some lawyers in Memphis make less than $60k a year. Just to clarify, I asked how much a lawyer makes per month in rupees.
He looked at me in a funny way and said, "Five thousand."
"FIVE THOUSAND RUPEES?! For lawyers? Per month?" I had just assumed he was quoting the salary in US dollars. Wrong. According to my driver, the average lawyer (and, yes, I made sure he understood what the word "lawyer" meant) makes about $90 a month.
This seemed so absurd that I had to get a second opinion. I asked some of the guys at my hotel, and their opinions weren't too far off, but higher. They said the average government lawyer actually makes about Rs 20,000 per month (about $365 per month or $4,400 per year), and private lawyers make more. When I told them that some US lawyers charge more than Rs 20,000 per hour, they all gasped. As a former government lawyer, I can tell you that average entry-level government lawyers in the States make per month about the equivalent of what Indian government lawyers make per year.
Be thankful for what you have. Be very thankful.
Ali, my driver, had a really big smile on his face when we drove away. I asked if that was enough to give her (tipping is really an acquired skill around here). His reply: "Those women make about 60 rupees a day."
That's just a little over a dollar, folks. Stop right now and think about that. They were smiling while performing manual labor for a dollar a day. (And I just gave her a "tip" of over a week's wages).
Ali and I started talking about salaries and costs of living in the US versus India. He asked how much a private driver would make in the US, and I guessed about $45,000 in a pretty good-sized city. He said drivers' salaries in India would range between 1000-10,000 Rs a month, which comes to about USD $200-2,000 per year.
Of course, the cost of living is vastly different as well, and more difficult to calculate. I asked him if he knew how much law school tuition costs, and he said about Rs 2000 for 4 months ($40). Then the big question: How much do lawyers make?
"About 5,000 a month," he says. That seemed more reasonable, and kind of surprising. Some lawyers in Memphis make less than $60k a year. Just to clarify, I asked how much a lawyer makes per month in rupees.
He looked at me in a funny way and said, "Five thousand."
"FIVE THOUSAND RUPEES?! For lawyers? Per month?" I had just assumed he was quoting the salary in US dollars. Wrong. According to my driver, the average lawyer (and, yes, I made sure he understood what the word "lawyer" meant) makes about $90 a month.
This seemed so absurd that I had to get a second opinion. I asked some of the guys at my hotel, and their opinions weren't too far off, but higher. They said the average government lawyer actually makes about Rs 20,000 per month (about $365 per month or $4,400 per year), and private lawyers make more. When I told them that some US lawyers charge more than Rs 20,000 per hour, they all gasped. As a former government lawyer, I can tell you that average entry-level government lawyers in the States make per month about the equivalent of what Indian government lawyers make per year.
Be thankful for what you have. Be very thankful.
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