Killed By A Card!
“Sir! We have this really great offer. You are eligible to avail of a loan of Rs. 25,00,000/-“ said the teleoperator. And thus went on an amazing conversation between me, Rahul Gupta and the Magic company that was willing to lend me such a big amount that I had to pay back in small investments. It filled me with immense joy that I could spend as much as I want and worry about paying it back immediately. All I had to do was repay the amount within a stipulated period of time.”This should be easy, I thought to myself. The process was, even a lot easier than I thought. No jhanjat of too many enquiries, form filling and stuff. Everything was Online!!! KYC Documents uploaded and within a week my MAGIC SUPER CARD had arrived.
I bought my 10-year-old hyper son Shyam, the latest gaming products. He was super happy!
“DEATH STRANDING! SEKIRO! DAD! Thank You! You are the best Dad in the Whole Wide World!”
I took my fussy teenage daughter to all the shopping malls possible. Gave her pocket – money like there was no tomorrow! My super-excited wife spent loads of money on her favourite online shopping portals. Needless to say, I was the PERFECT HUSBAND AND FATHER receiving unconditional love from my loved ones. I smilingly thought to myself “Hmmmmm! Money does make the world turn around. Whoever said money couldn’t buy happiness was totally wrong!
After about a month of having used my card, I received another good news. “Sir, Congratulations! Since you have been a very active Credit Card member of our company, we have decided to grant you an extra loan limit. Now you can avail of our Platinum card membership which is only gifted to our elite customers. I could use my 50,000 lakh credit benefits now. “WOW, this was just great! I was winning coupons and gifts as I spent more and more money. Movie Ticket Offers! Gift Coupons! Unbelievable Discounts at Restaurants! WE were living a King size life!
I bought that lovely Grey Car of my dreams. It was beyond my budget! But hey! I had enough time on my hands to pay it back at leisure. The compliments I received. The envious looks I got. The respect I earned when I drove into my office in style!
“We want a Treat Bhai!,” my friends yelled. A fabulous party with music, booze and foooood! Could I afford one? NO! Did I host one? OH YES! Thanks to my magic card! My home I felt was a bit too tiny to accommodate such a huge crowd. I was Mr. Popular now and my image was at stake. My wife suggested that maybe the lovely Resort near my place would be perfect. And what a party it turned out to be! Everyone was talking about it for the next few weeks and it filled me with immense pride and happiness to think that everything that I had desired had come to me so easily and so fast!
Slowly and steadily the debt kept building up! Bills kept on piling. And disaster struck! My son was diagnosed with blood cancer. I had no savings of my own! My wife had none too! The stress and tension of running around from work to hospitals and home was getting to all of us. Finally because of my absenteeism and constant borrowing of money from the Office and colleagues I was fired. Needless to say I had also lost all my friends who were there when in my good days! I was isolated!
I didn’t have the heart to tell my family that I was no longer working. On that fateful evening, I made tea for my family and assured them that everything would be fine. That I was working things out! They happily smiled, as they took the “poisoned” tea. As I slowly sipped the last bit of tea in my cup, I realised that it was not the tea that had killed us! WE were KILLED by the MAGIC CARD that was supposed to keep us happy.
All of a sudden I woke up! My Cell Phone was ringing. Thank God! It was a dream. Damn! I received the call and the voice at the other end said “Sir We have this great offer! You can avail of a loan on our Company’s Magic Super Card! All you have to do….”
I smiled as I replied “ NO Thank You! I don’t need your Card! I choose LIFE! And disconnected the call of DEATH!
Rachitha Poornima Cabral
Who gets such a perfectly orchestrated dream :). But this can happen in real life. CC debt can really kill. it is a great message written in such a flowing style! I hope at least a few people get the message and spend as per their capacity rather than on such borrowed money. I have been through the pain of strangulating CC debt. It is not fun. The biggest disappointment for me is that I am a great spendthrift and yet gauntlet of CC did not spare me. I was able to come out after a few years tightening the belt for too many years. After that, I was comfortable for a few years but again a lapse of control. I could have controlled only if I accepted an extreme strain of relationship. That is why when I saw how the author has used the phrase ‘unconditional conditional love’, I had a smirky smile on my face and I can visualize the sarcastic smile of the author when writing this. Most love in this world is ‘conditional’. Anyway, I don’t want to digress. Let us talk about the love for CC. That love is definitely a death trap as the author says.
Again congratulations and thanks to the author for providing such a strong message. I repeat: this is not a dream. It is more like a narration of real-life story. But the real-life does not provide such narrow escapes most of the time. Sad.