Self-awareness through the ₹-$

83 (rupees) is the new 1 (dollar) - just as oil is the new data (while data is the new index). While much hullabaloo and rationalisation is swirling in the air, we think that there is much comfort to be found in the rupee-dollar jugularbandhi. It's not every day that moolah, of all material things, provides wisdom and solace of the spiritual kind. But we take what comes our way. So, here are three pearls we cast before you that should gain currency and make you feel less jittery as a non-exporter:

Like Lemuel Gulliver in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, the rupee doesn't shrink or expand - its size is relative to the currency equivalent of the inhabitants of Lilliput (who are way small) or of Brobdingnag (who are way bigger).

If the rupee has fallen in value relative to the dollar, remember, the Japanese yen and the British pound, usually tied to the dollar's hip, have done worse. So, like not worrying about how small your increment has been this year by taking comfort that other colleagues have got even smaller increments, if at all, measure your currency worth in relative terms. Take pleasure in others having it worse than you.


The rupee being the currency most of us earn in and spend with, be thankful this is not the pre-1990s when a pair of imported jeans, etc, measured self-worth and success.