Ji FU quoted Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
Saleem Sinai is born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very …
The insurance money came; January ended; and in time it took to close down their affairs in Delhi and move to the city in which - Dr Narlikat the gynecologist knew - property was temporarily as cheap as dirt, my mother concentrated on her segmented scheme to love her husband.
— Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (Page 90)
What the heck does "cheap as dirt" mean? Property is dirt and anyone who has tried to buy a peice of dirt knows it ain't cheap.