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Budget blues and Galle Face Green
View(s):Mrs. Anumaana has been on the phone these days talking to her friends about a most unlikely subject. This is in the hope of getting them to shed light on something that Sunil keeps talking about that she cannot make head or tail of.
What’s this ‘lambo – something’ he goes on and on about, she wants to know. Is it a lamb chop? Or is it a lamb chop that got burned? Her friends seem to be as clueless as herself. “Maybe it is some new breed of guinea pig…”
Sunil hears the conversation and chuckles patronisingly. “Amma don’t you know anything about the 2013 budget? ‘Lamborghini’ is the new racing car that I’m planning to buy. Everybody is talking about it, because super luxury racing cars have been exempted from tax. Mrs. Aandupaksa says many people can afford racing cars now, since the tax was axed.”
Mrs. Anumaana is not amused. “What about prices of bread, and vegetables, and gas?” she asks. “Aren’t these prices coming down? I can hardly afford to buy my groceries each week!” she protests.
Sunil is undeterred. He says all his friends are planning to buy racing cars. If not Lamborghinis, then Aston Martins or Ferraris.
Mrs. Anumaana asks what he will do with this fancy ‘Lambo’ whatever. Keep it in a showcase?
Sunil replies that he and his friends are all planning to take part in the Colombo Night Races scheduled to take place near Galle Face Green. They expect to keep the hotels in that area locked down for a couple of days he claims, with a hint of pride.
What would the hotels do with their guests deserting them, and so many events being cancelled as a result of the enforced closures, Mrs. Anumaana demanded to know.
“Can’t you see amma? All the hotel staff will get a much needed break. They will all come out to watch the exciting action. With the staff kept well entertained and happy their productivity will improve. With productivity improving in all these big hotels that have the good fortune to be located in the same area as the race venue, the entire hotel industry will get a boost.”
That’s Mrs. Aandupaksa’s logic, he says. “It’s all supposed to benefit the economy, amma. Isn’t that’s what a budget is supposed to do?” he asks importantly.
Mrs. Anumaana says the three-wheeler driver at the top of the lane is not so impressed with the largesse extended to this category of consumers, since it does not include him. He had been planning to get a new three wheeler, only to find that the taxes had been increased where he was concerned. “Now I suppose we shall have to pay him more to go to the market and back,” she grumbled. Anyway what’s this craze about racing all of a sudden, she wanted to know. The only racing she had been doing lately was to keep up with the instalments due on her bank loan, which she was struggling to repay.
“Amma you seem to think you are the only one with problems. Look at the problems I am faced with now. I have to decide whether to go for the Lamborghini V10 Gallardo model with engine behind the driver, or wait for the new V10 to be released in 2014. Or should I consider the LP550-2 or LP 550-2 Spyder with rear wheel drive only? On the other hand I am tempted to consider whether to order a special edition, custom designed with all the options I want. You see amma, it’s not easy when you have to make these important decisions, like when you are buying a Lamborghini…”
Mrs. Anumaana was beginning to look bored as he went on to explain what torment it was, having to decide which motor show he should go for — Paris or Frankfurt? This is to check out what’s hot and what’s new.
Sunil was on his computer looking for images of the latest model super luxury racing cars that might impress his mother. “And did you know there was a new type of special wheel coated gold, silver and copper, available for various exotic cars including Lamborghinis? He looked around to show her, but found that she had fallen asleep. It’s a hard knock life, he mumbled to himself as he navigated the pages of the 200,000-Euros price category of racing machines, in an agony of indecision. Yes, budget 2013 had certainly brought him his share of woes…
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