The air smells like onions. Maybe that’s just what happens when the prices go up. You can smell it in the market. People’s faces are tired.
A grocery store in Srinagar, full of shelves, but the things you need are out of reach. The cost of things you need just keeps rising. You can feel the tightness in your chest.
The price of potatoes. The price of onions. It all feels like a burden you don’t know how to handle.
In 2020, you could get a kilo of potatoes for ₹20. Now, it’s ₹50. The onions? They’ve gone from ₹30 to ₹70. No one expected this.
Shabir Ahmed, a man with three kids, works for a living.
He says, “I used to buy vegetables for ₹200 a week. Now it’s ₹350. It doesn’t seem like much, but when you’re already scraping by, it adds up. And that’s just vegetables. There’s rice, oil, flour—everything is going up.”
He doesn’t say much more. What can you say when the numbers speak louder than words?
The cost of food is climbing fast. People don’t talk much about it, but it’s there.
The small things add up. A loaf of bread here. A kilo of rice there. It all goes up. You don’t know how long you can keep up.
The same things you used to buy without thinking are now decisions.
There are reports that show food prices are climbing. It’s not just here. It’s everywhere.
In Kashmir, where things are already hard, it’s harder now. There’s nothing to do about it. No magic trick. The cost of basic things is on the rise, and no one can avoid it.
Then there’s gas. You turn the knob on the stove, and it hits you. You’re paying more than you did last year.
A cylinder you used to pay ₹900 for now costs ₹1,050. It’s heavy. You notice it. You notice it more when there’s not much else to cling to.
You ask yourself, “How can I keep paying for this?”
For families that rely on gas for cooking, it’s a constant calculation. Where can you cut back? Can you make it last another month? Maybe you can use the stove less.
Maybe you can cook smaller meals. But eventually, it hits you that you can only do so much.
Some people go back to using wood, burning it in the cold. It doesn’t feel right, though. You can smell the smoke. It gets into everything. Clothes, food, your lungs. But what else can you do when gas is too expensive? You just try to make it work.
Tariq Ahmad, a construction worker, says it’s the same thing every month. “Some days, I make money. Some days, I don’t. When prices keep rising, it doesn’t matter if I work or not. I can’t keep up. There’s no way to catch up. I’ve got three kids, and I can’t always give them enough to eat. Some days, we get by. Other days, we don’t.”
This is how it is for most people. The worry, the stress. It’s there, in the background.
The struggle to pay for the basics is a daily thing. It’s in the small numbers that pile up. It’s in the looks people give when they can’t afford what they need.
You can see it in the way they walk, the way they talk about their lives. How long will it last?
People don’t talk about it much. Not in public. Not in the open. But when you see them, when you hear them, you know.
You know that the strain is real. A man works all day and can’t afford to feed his family. A woman buys fewer things, and it still doesn’t last the week.
A child looks at the cupboard, and there’s not much inside.
It’s not just about food. It’s not just about gas. It’s about the feeling of everything being too much. You work. You work hard. But it doesn’t seem to add up.
When you add the rising prices to the already limited money, you start to feel it. You don’t just feel it in your pocket. You feel it in your chest. It’s tight.
Some people say it’s inflation. Others say it’s the economy. The truth is, it doesn’t matter what you call it. What matters is that people are struggling.
People are working and still losing. They’re working and still falling behind. And the more they fall behind, the harder it is to get back up.
The hardest part is the not knowing. You don’t know when the next pay cheque is coming.
You don’t know if you’ll have enough for the next month. And when you’re already stretched thin, every price increase is a new wound.
A study by the Ministry of Labour and Employment found that rural wages have stayed the same. People are working harder, but the pay doesn’t reflect it. The cost of living keeps climbing, but wages don’t. This is the cycle people are caught in. They are stuck, running just to stay in place.
What happens to the mind when you’re caught in a cycle like this? What happens to a person when they can’t keep up?
You can only take so much. You can only live with so much uncertainty before it starts to break you down.
Dr. Rajeev Rathi, a mental health expert based in Delhi, concurs. “Financial stress is one of the leading causes of anxiety and depression in modern societies, especially when families are unable to meet basic needs. When a person constantly feels overwhelmed by mounting bills, it triggers a fight-or-flight response that wears down mental health. Over time, that stress can lead to serious psychological conditions, including depression and a sense of hopelessness.”
In addition to the mental toll, Dr. Rathi highlights how financial stress exacerbates physical health issues. “The mind-body connection is strong,” he says. “When people are under financial pressure, their health often deteriorates because of poor eating habits, lack of sleep, and constant worry. In many cases, stress leads to hypertension, heart disease, and other chronic illnesses.”
The problem is that no one talks about it. People don’t share these things.
They don’t say how it feels to be on the edge, to wonder how you’ll survive the next month, how you’ll pay for the next bill. There’s shame in it. So people keep quiet.
But the quietness doesn’t make the struggle go away. It just makes it harder to face.
What’s left to do? What can people do when it feels like there’s no way out?
Maybe it’s time for something more. Maybe it’s time for a new way. A way where people don’t have to struggle to survive. A way where people can live with dignity, without wondering every day if they can make it through the week.
But it’s not just about money. It’s about respect. It’s about giving people the chance to live better lives. It’s about making sure that when prices rise, people don’t have to choose between feeding their children and paying the rent.
There’s no easy fix. But if things are going to change, it will be because people begin to talk about it, because people start to demand change. Because, in the end, it’s not just about surviving—it’s about living.
The tightness in your chest is not just the price of things. It’s the weight of a life you didn’t ask for. A life you didn’t choose. And it’s a weight that’s getting heavier every day.
Gowher Majeed Bhat is a creative writer and educator based in Kashmir. He writes on society, education, and culture.
