Living on Tk 25,000 per month in Dhaka is a reality if you tailor the word 'living' to mean 'calculating', 'sacrificing' and 'compromising'. To the fresh graduate, that's a good number to be practical, but once rent, utilities, groceries, even course costs are subtracted, their checking account is quickly depleted.
Earlier onlookers thought their everyday lives in the middle class were pretty simple; now it feels like a balancing act. It seems middle-class living is becoming difficult for Dhaka's youth, even for many people who once looked up to their middle-class life thought it as a simple lifestyle.
Rent comes first
The largest burden for a bachelor who lives by himself is renting a room. In many areas of Dhaka, a shared bachelor or a small single room can be rented for Tk 6,000 to 10,000, depending on various factors, including location, room size, and whether utilities are charged separately or included in the rent.
You can't afford to be protected from saving space, privacy, and comfort if you earn 25 thousand taka. The room will have fewer amenities, less air circulation, some very strict house rules, and you will have to travel longer.
Food takes more than you expect
Even those who eat mostly basic meals and can nip a tea, egg, get some yoghurt, buy snacks and order something out over Foodpanda or Pathao Food a couple of times in a month can quite easily shell out Tk 10 to 12,000 in a month.
The figure might go up further if someone is left with mess food or affordable dining establishments because Dhaka is no longer a town where affordable food equates with nutritious food.
Many tend to compensate by skipping breakfast or dinner, choosing low-protein foods, or eating the same inferior items over and over.
Taha (24), working in a Telesales private organisation, night shift, says, "It gets very difficult for me to balance everything in this short amount of compensation. I'm usually broke at the end of the month"
Mobile and connectivity
Being reachable, employable, and socially able is part of it, and it's part of a person being reachable, employable, and socially able. Using a month-to-month mobile recharge service and data may easily cost Tk 500 to 1500, depending on usage and internet prices, without broadband.
The figure seems small, but it does count when there is no taka to spare at the end of the month.
Transport eats into income
One of the most unavoidable costs for a city worker is that of Dhaka transport. Monthly rickshaw/bus/ride-sharing, or a combination of all these expenses, may range from Tk 3,000 to 8,000 or more, depending on the distance travelled and how you commute.
What 25k really leaves behind?
Food, transportation and telephone expenses; one sees Tk 25,000 promptly getting smaller.
A simple breakdown is rent Tk 7000, food Tk 10,000, transport Tk 6000, and phone and data Tk 1,000. So far, it costs Tk 24,000, leaving no space for medicine, toiletries, clothing, emergencies, gifts, or any social life.
With this salary drop to Tk 15,000, it becomes even harder to stay alive. The individual must modify their room, meals and travel routine, and may have to reduce virtually all other costs.
Barely, the pressure lessens a little at Tk 35K to 45K, although thin, anyway: In a city where price increases outpaced first salaries at this stage. Comfort vs struggle is only a few thousand taka apart.
The sacrifices behind survival
A fresher entering this job world renounces more than just distribution of takas to live within his modest means in Dhaka. Socialising is limited, savings are set aside, dreams and aspirations are delayed. A new shirt, a good dinner, a weekend excursion seem far away.
Thus, finances aren't the only issue; emotions are, too. City is the place where ambitious young people learn to hold back from their careers. It's the true tale in Dhaka of Tk 25,000. It's not a mere number. It is a negotiation that occurs every month between dignity and need, between what we want and what we can get by with. For many of these fresh graduates, however, that negotiation comes to the same result: living in the city is fine, living well is another story altogether.
