Money Matters

note: I take no pride in the content of this entry, it is simply the facts.

I finally signed off on my forms from USAID to get paid for my consultancy. Converted to dollars, the daily rate was pretty weak… weaker than anything I’ve ever seen with my BA and now with my almost MSPH. My boss gave me a pat on the back and told me that with all this money, he will let me buy him lunch. I thought he was patronizing me.

Not ever scared to share the numbers, especially when they are comically low, I told my friend here exactly what I was being paid and how low it was for a graduate student. Oddly enough, his eyes opened really widely and he started running all kinds of numbers in his head. He’s a real estate broker. The field of real estate makes more money than any other fields in Delhi currently. His math was ridiculous.

I’ve come to realize that I am in fact receiving an above-margin salary and one that will go very far if I live in Delhi. After rent, food, even partying, I have left over money. Suddenly, the level of expense of the kids here makes a lot of sense. Your cost of living is so low (or non existent since you likely live with your parents), that most of your salary either goes into savings… or more commonly, into your pocket money. Why wouldn’t you buy a Gucci belt and an Armani jacket? (I kid, but actually Gucci is cheaper in India too!)

My friend went on to explain how much it costs to get an MBA in India, how much an MBA graduate makes, and how little the name of your school and your degrees (unless they are from the top university) matter. It’s kind of frightening. No wonder so many Indians come to the US. Yes our cost of living and taxes take away most of our salary, but at the end of the day, the margin is so high, that you will make more than you ever could in India.

I was incredibly embarrassed to bring my salary up, not knowing it was much higher than most of the kids that live here. I truly had no idea. And, I say this even though all my friends are educated and with years of work experience. My closest guy friends are engineers working in corporate telecom and I have just realized they make a fourth of what I am about to make. And yet, they take me out routinely, pay for my dinners, drive me around, and take me shopping. Money goes far here.

As a global health professional, you’re trained to assume you’re in the lowest of the brackets.

My friend spent most of the day laughing at me, and then planning the trip to Goa that I should take him on.

After this conversation, I decided that in order to truly appreciate this experience, I need to stop thinking in USD.