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Comment by niyazpk | Hacker News Reader

Bangalore, India

Typical monthly wage for a programmer / designer: $600 to $1000. (This varies a lot, so there is no actual upper/lower limit)

My expenses:

  Apartment Rent + Utilities: $80
  Internet (1 Mbps): $23
  Food: $135
  Transport (Bike): $20
  Books: $75

Contrast this with RealGeek's comment to get an idea on how different the expenses could be, depending on the person and the spending nature.

Also keep in mind that I am not married. I expect the expenses to shoot out of the ceiling after marriage. :)

EDIT: Less than 6 months ago I was trying to get a startup up and running and I was living off my savings. The lifestyle then was entirely different and the expenses were around one half of those given above.

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Most of our expenses are similar, but apartment rent. How in Banglore did you get an apartment for $80? Its a steal :)

How much is your electricity bill? Do you use air condition and computer?

The place I stay is relatively small and I would say that the rent is just right.

My electricity bill comes around 300-400 INR ($7-9). I don't have an AC - you don't need it in Bangalore. I have a laptop and an extra monitor. My Airtel DigitalTV is connected to the monitor so I don't have a separate TV.

    I don't have an AC - you don't need it in Bangalore.

As a westerner that spent about 2 months in India I have to say - although Bangalore's weather is mild in Indian terms, >30c weather (normal for high summer in Bangalore) is well within "requires AC" limits for Europeans :)

Also, if you don't absolutely require high speed internet or being around other high-tech folks there are much cheaper (and IMO nicer) places in India than Bangalore.

E.g. in Dharamsala, which is still expensive by Indian standards, you can lead a fairly lavish lifestyle for the prices niyazpk's quoted (and a lot less, too). Hope you like dialup internet tho ;)

Most Indians live without AC, and even without electricity in 40c+ weather.

Most Indians also live on <$1/day (nominal) in pretty terrible conditions. I know it's possible but I don't want to bare the inconvenience for what is, for me, not a significant amount of money.

they use a ceiling/pedestal fan to circulate the air. ACs are too expensive to own and operate.

There is pretty good GPRS cellular internets (and I hear faster now) in Benaulim, and presumably other beaches in Goa. It was like $10 a month and all you can eat. :)

I'm also in central Bangalore (Richmond Town).

  Rent $400 - 2 bedroom shared between 4 people
  meals $100 
  electricity $50 
  internet $50 for two airtel 4mbps connections (I run a hacker space)
  tranport $50 - travel by rickshaw is cheap tho I just bought a nano (car) for $4500

so, if I were being frugal my burn rate would be about $300. As it turns out, I probably blow that much again on alcohol and fancy restaurants.

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