क्रेडिट कार्ड

आज एका क्रेडिट कार्डवाल्याचा फ़ोन आलेला. असलं डोकं खाल्लं त्यानी. जाम वैतागलो. नकोय क्रेडिट कार्ड सांगितल तरी पिडायला लागला. शेवटी मीच फ़ोन कट केला. रोज दिवसभरात कमीतकमी २-३ बैंक्स कडून क्रेडिट कार्ड विषयी फ़ोन येतो. सर तुम्हाला प्लेटिनम कार्ड ऑफर करतोय वगैरे वगैरे...सुरुवातीला नविन नविन मी पण काही बैंक्सच्या क्रेडिट कार्डसाठी अप्लाय केलं. पण दरवेळी कोणत्यातरी क्रायटेरिया मधे बसत नाही म्हणून रिजेक्ट करून माझाच पोपट करायचे. शेवटी मी नादच सोडला.
तर संध्याकाळी घरी जाता जाता मनात विचार आला, ह्या क्रेडिट कार्डवाल्यांनाच पकवलं तर.......काय आसुरी आनंद मिळेल. :D .

तर प्लान असा आहे.

creditcard person: Hello, Good morning sir, Is it Mr. Parag Shankar?

me: no

(अर्ध्यावेळा हे क्रेडिट कार्ड वाले माझ चुकिचच नाव घेतात, तरीसुद्धा जनरली मी हो म्हणतो, पण आज नाही......आज चांगलाच घेणार ह्याला).....
मग तो बावचळणार, थोड्या पॉज नंतर,

creditcard person: but sir our system shows ur name is parag shankar

me: shankar is my dad, my name is parag kulkarni

creditcard person: ohhh sorry Mr. Parag Kulkarni. I am calling from xyz bank, can i speak to u now?

me: regarding?

creditcard person: Sir our bank is offering you a platinum credit card. With this u'll have credit limit upto 5 lakh rupees sir. also u'll have 5% cash back on any goods u purchase from any departmental store in the city, 2% chash back on all petrol pump upto 10% chash back on air ticket and rail ticket booking. also sir we have reward point system. with which on purchase of worth rupees 1000 using this card, u'll get 2 reward points which u can convert to 10 miles of air travel distance per point. so at the time of air ticket booking u'll not be charged for that much of travel distance. also sir we give u 55 days of period to pay ur credit card bill which none of the banks provides. u'll just need to submit photocopy of ur employee card, photocopy of PAN card, one address proof and one photo. so sir when should i send my person to collect the documents?

me: sorry u were too fast, i didn't get ur scheme. can u repeat please?

बैंकवाले ह्याना काय खायला देतात माहित नाही, तो नक्की पुन्हा तेवढ्याच एनर्जीने सगळ रिपीट करणार

creditcard person: (पुन्हा पूर्ण स्कीम, पण जरा कमी स्पीडने)

me: hmmmm, sounds interesting

creditcard person: yes sir, infact many of ur colleges have applied for this credit card

me: WHAT?...they didn't told me...thanks man u told me. now i'll ask them. u know we all are good friends, but they never tell me important stuff like this that they have applied for ur credit card

creditcard person: so sir should i send my person today to collect ur documents?

me: i'll definitely go for your card, but first u have to do one thing.....promise me

creditcard person: what?

me: i'll tell u a joke. u have to listen to my joke and have to laugh

creditcard person: yes, certainly sir

येस म्हणण्याशिवाय बिचारा करणार काय, क्रेडिट कार्ड खपतय ना......

me: once santaa invites bantaa for dinner. he says "oye bante aajaa, aaj ghar pe koi nahi hai". when banta goes, he saws a biiiig lock at santa's door.
.
.
.
फोनवर थोडा पॉज

me: why didn't u laughed?

creditcard person: it was really nice joke sir. so should i send my person today?

me: listen to one more joke

creditcard person: yes, definitely

me: once our santaa and bantaa were playing chess. they kept on playing for hours and hours and hours. 4 hours, 5 hours, 10 hours. afater that santaa gives up and he says to banta...."yar khel khatm karte hai, waisebhi dononke king to mar gaye hai"

creditcard person: really nice joke sir. so should i send........

me: i think u didn't liked my jokes. ok i got...u must be interested in puzzeles...ok then tell me whats an opposite of 'naagpanchami'?

creditcard person: i don't have any idea sir

me: simple......naag dont punch me

creditcard person: so should i send my person?

me: ohhhh sorry i forgot we were talking abt credit card. what did u said ur bank will give 5% cashback on any goods purchase and 10% on ticket booking rite?

creditcard person: that's correct sir, also 2% cashback on any petrol pump

me:hmmm it doesn't sounds that interesting. and what abt reward points? how many miles of free air travel on each reward point?

creditcard person: 10 miles sir. Also after gaining minimum of 100 reward points u'll automatically get membership of some selected airlines

me: hmmmm

creditcard person: its really great offer sir

me: nooo yaar.......u know, me and my friend are going to launch a new co-operative bank. our bank is offering very special credit card. u'll get 100% cashback on any goods u purchase from any shop infact we will deposit 100 rs to ur bank account on every purchase of 1000 rupees. 100% cashback for any ticket booking and also as a complementary service, our person will come to airport or railway station to welcome and to receive you. If you didnt travel for 3 months by any airline then u'll get one free airticket to any destination within india. Also u can pay ur bills any time. no due date but if u pay within 30 days, u'll get free insurance coverage of 10000 rupees on every bill clearance.
This is called an offer. yes and no docs required. anyways u r sending your person, so i'll send ur card with him. is it ok?

हाहाहाहा.....काय मजा येइल......तो स्वतः तर नाहीच पण इतर बैंक मधल्या मित्रांना पण सांगेल ह्या नंबरवर चुकून पण फ़ोन करू नका.

Hobby

Today i received an e-mail. Various stages of orkut account of an person called 'nilesh'. when nilesh is in 10th, when nilesh just joined corporate world, when he started looking for grl to marry, jus after marr, after having kids etc etc. No doubt it was intended to depict the story in hilarious manner, it was quiet realistic though.
Somehow i was uncomfortable to certain facts written in it about life near or after marr. It was looking like life may become very monotonous and bounded within certain frame. with full of worries which we are unaware of at this stage. It looks a perfect boring and routine life. I was just scared of finding myself in such a situation. What could be the solution on this. Ya, its true we cant avoid all these responsibilities. but having burden of all that, cant we make life interesting? and after thinking a bit i felt yes. we can. hobby is the key.

Everybody has some hobby. whats hobby? its your liking towards certain thing. Why its that way? no answer...because u are made that way to like something. Its just some could identify what they like and some couldn't. Just have some hobby and pursue it passionately. you'll feel very different zeal. u'll feel quite refreshing. yes i have experienced it.

Fortunately i know many such people from all age group and from all status of society who are very passionate abt various things. for e.g. nandu. He is 40 years guy. A trekking freak. Awesomely live person. Although I haven't seen him in his personal or professional life, but when he is with us on treks.....he is always full of energy, much active than a 20 years guy. always cracking PJs. I mean u can sense he is enjoying life and is in some sort of 'nasha'. Similarly Zyros. He is typical very rich parasi person. have great business. have family. very crazy about amateur radio. when we go for an outing, he will keep his cell switched off, no worries at all. Becomes so free and excited ki in every sentence will give atleast 2-3 hardcore hindi slangs. Similarly saw many such people in astronomy club too.

I was thinking, does motivation behind a hobby can die after certain stage of life? for e.g. if i am passionate about learning guitar for whatever reason at this stage....lets say.....i am learning guitar thinking ki, i could play and may impress girls. Then after marr. will i loose interest and giveup playing guitar? I think noo. Amazing thing is, if its really ur hobby, if u r feeling passionate abt it then u'll always find some motivations at each stage of life. Certainly motivation will change from stage to stage. Lets say with guitar only. After marr. i may feel i want to show it to my wife so that she will feel how great my husband is than rest of my friends'. After having kids i may be interested to impress them or making them feel to learn it etc etc.
Basically i feel whats important is never giveup on your liking. Let it take some extra time u to dive-in due to other commitments. But keep ur interest in ur hobby alive for whole life and keep doing some good things. In every bad patch of ur life it will give sheer happiness. u will sense a kid in you. and what more can we expect than to keep this innocence of kid alive in us throughout the life?

:P too much of philosophy. but really feeling light now. :)