Word: kondababu
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Although India's current economic boom has been criticized for unevenly benefiting the rich, new wealth is percolating down in many parts of the country to newly empowered members of the working class such as Padma Kondababu, a 40-year-old maid in Madras. The first woman in her family to work outside the home, Kondababu makes $85 a month, a good salary by Indian standards. Whatever she can save, she says, she uses to buy gold, sometimes even in $12 installments?enough for tiny stud earrings. "It's a matter of pride for people like me to buy gold...
...financial burden can be too much. "Sometimes families go into debt to buy this gold for the weddings," says Kondababu. "Sometimes families get broken up by gold." Economists argue that the gold bug has other pernicious effects. If the money used to buy gold was invested in banks or stocks, rather than being locked up in a non-productive asset, it would boost India's GDP significantly, they say. But old ways of thinking die hard. Gold is seen by many as a safe haven in an uncertain world. "So many banks fail and close their doors, and ordinary people...
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