A rupee? When a crore is the new lakh, who cares about a rupee? Well, it’s still money and therefore it can buy stuff, some very interesting stuff. ET on Sunday hit the markets in India ’s cities, shopping with a rupee and came up with an eye-popping list. We also looked back at what Rs 1 could buy in earlier times. Answer: a lot, a meal for two, for example.

Candy:

Sulabh Sauchalaya:

Photocopy:

Water:

SMS:

Post-card:

Match-box:

Medicine:

Needle:

Kite:

Plastic Glass:

Shampoo/Oil Sachet:

Also for Rs 1:

Over the Decades: Rupee’s Buying Power

Early 1950s:

Early 1960s:

Early 1970s:

Early 1980s:

Early 1990s:

This is the de facto Rs 1. Go to any kiranawallah or paan shop and you will invariably be given some candy or the other in lieu of Rs 1.Aren’t we glad that these cropped up in various markets and street corners? Otherwise our urban landscape would have been one large public urinal.You can still “xerox” for Rs 1. Cheaper if you do bulk or from an educational institution.Think north Indian summers and “Machine ka thanda pani” comes to mind. True a few thousand strains of E.coli are part of the deal. Shell out a wee bit more for a squeeze of lemon and salt.Most of us don’t realise it but text messages are under Rs 1. There are some tariff plans that also offer calls for Rs 1 or under.Relegated to nostalgia. Emails and SMSes have killed the romance of post cards and the postman. Still popular in rural areas. In fact you can get two for Rs 1.Any smoker will tell you this. The fancier ones are a bit expensive.Not just painkillers but also emergency drugs for cardiac attacks, cure for allergies, indigestion and urinary tract infections.The sewing ones. Interestingly in Kolkata, you can get a button sewed on by a roadside tailor for Rs 1.In Ahmedabad, the kite-flying capital of India, kites are sold cheap. And not necessarily if you are buying in bulk.Available at any paan shop. Very helpful for that special Delhi activity called “car-o-bar”. A slightly better quality one is for Rs 2.These might not give your hair the sheen or make it dandruff-free, but there is enough lather to make you feel clean. Also available, coconut oil to make the hair glisten.Eraser, candle, rubber bands, razor blade, nails from hardware store (six for Rs 1), neem ka datun (on trains), cheap guitar pick, zipper puller.Rs 1 could buy 3.5 kg of rice or 500 g of chicken or 0.5 m of cotton (to make clothes) or travel for 50 km in a busPrice of rice had gone up. Now Rs 1 could buy only 1 kgBus rides were becoming expensive. While in small-town India one could travel 19 km, in Mumbai it was 9 km. In Mumbai, Rs 1 would have got you two thalis at Udipi.A pack of non-filter cigarettes; in Kolkata tickets to the cheapest seats in cinemas; bus fares still hadn’t breached the Rs 1 ceiling.A local call from a pay phone; drop a Rs 1 coin in the weighing machines at a railway station and you got your weight as well as your fortune foretold; platform tickets.