Dollar value meal

The charity fundraisers often make a successful case that there are people living on less than a dollar a day.

Then there's this couple who have a blog called one dollar diet project

So, what is the cost of a decent meal in Sylhet? Since I have no social life to speak of for last six days, I thought I'd find out.

The answer, right off the bat, is, it depends.

Take the Sylheti version of Khichuri, my favorite meal, around my office. It costs about 15-20 taka a plate. Much cheaper than the ones in Dhaka going for Tk.60 around my office. The problem is, it hardly contains any lentil, which is a key ingredient (Khichuri is a mixture of rice and lentil). So you're stuffing yourself with a lot of carb, but you're nutritionally deficient.

Now say you want to have a balanced meal. You could opt for a combination of a bowl of halim (Tk.20), which has rice, daal and exactly one piece of meat-bone, an orange (Tk.10, source of Vit C), a parata (Tk.5, oil and carb) and an egg (Tk.6, protein). You get a somewhat balanced diet at Tk.41. Voila. If you're still hungry, you could get a Mughlai Parata, which is big, and costs Tk.20. Still under a dollar. It's not quite a dollar a day, but at least one step closer. The lone chilly, two slices of lemon comes free.

The problem with this kind of analysis is that apart from economics (food is not your only cost), of course, it ignores the human mind, which craves variety and dignity. I am a creature of habit, I can do this one or two meals a day, even several days a week if need be, but I can't go on like this knowing that this is my predicament for next 2 years, to say the least. I'll kill, rob, loot, embezzle, anything to get out of a situation like this.

Mankind is a strange animal in that it needs dignity to go on living. At least some do.