"Thaaththa", Bindu Udagedara said, "I told you Satellite will keep her promises..."

"Why do you say that?" Bindu's father, Percy asked.

"Why, she said she will give a salary increase and she has done just that..."

"But that will be only from next January", Percy argued.

"But it is better late than never..."

"Of course", Percy agreed, "that is something Satellite firmly believes in..."

"And she says it will cost the Government eight billion rupees, but she will do it anyway, because she has to keep her promises..."

"That's exactly the problem..." Percy said.

"Why do you say that thaaththa?"

"She will be recovering that money from somewhere..." Percy argued.

"But, from where?" Bindu wanted to know.

"Remember the subsidy on bread? That costs seven billion rupees a year. Now, they will remove that and save that money..."

"Is that why, bread prices were increased suddenly, thaaththa?"

"That maybe the reason," Percy said.

"So, even before we get the salary increase, we will be spending more money on bread..."

"Yes, and I suppose with the more money they get on bread, they can give a salary increase and keep everyone happy..."

"But that is robbing Peter to pay Paul..."

"No", Percy corrected, "that is robbing Peter to pay Peter..."

"You are being unfair to Satellite thaaththa", Bindu said.

"No", Percy said, "it's not her fault; It's her parents' fault. They sent her to a French University. She goes there, learns all about Marie Antoinette asking people to eat cake if there is no bread, returns and unhappily has to do just that..."

"So what do we do now?" Bindu wanted to know.

"We elected Satellite for six years to give us bread at three fifty", Percy said.

"And now?"

"She has doubled the price of bread; so maybe we should allow her only half her term of office..."

"We can't do that, can we?"

"If the price of bread rises anymore", Percy said, "people will start thinking that way..."

Bindu hadn't thought about that.