How i met my card

Long long ago, in a land not far away, there lived people who had accepted being chased by credit card companies as part of their lives. While I am old enough to have lived and earned in those times, i escaped the persecution mainly by having my nose up in the air and not having a mobile phone. I used to go around feeling pretty smug about not having succumbed to a credit card. Then of course, Indian railways had to open up online train bookings, life had to make me travel by air, even the damn bus companies had to go online! And so, i had to get my nose down a little and go sniffing for credit card companies.

The first time i said yes to one of those random callers who are most anxious to offer you a card without even knowing your name, she fell off her chair. But then, she got off the floor, pulled it together and offered to send an "executive" to collect the documents. He came, he made me sign in a million places, he went. And THEN they realized that since they hadn't ever heard of the company I work for, it might not be such a bright idea to offer me use of their money. Yes. I was rejected. (I think i may be building something of a reputation in being rejected by the unrejecting. My two-wheeler was rejected for the Pollution Under Control certificate. Twice.) Which i found funny. So the next time one of them called, i said - I have already been rejected by a bank as not being safe enough. Are you sure you want to offer me your card? Which led to uncomfortable silence of the most delightful kind. The fun wore off though when i had to go around begging for credit cards.

So this time, i took their call seriously. Shamelessly told them i wanted one. Fully cooperated. Gave them all the necessary documents after only 3 postponements. Cheerfully tolerated their extensive verification process which basically involved contacting me via 300 different ways and asking me the same questions. Probably in the hope that one out of those 300 times i might slip up and give them the wrong date of birth or marital status. While it isnt over yet, they do seem to have exhausted ways of getting to me. Do you see the horizon there? One of these days when the sun comes up on that horizon, it'll bring my card along.

And that makes me ask. What will it mean to me? How will it change my life? I've always maintained that i'd make a terrible customer to them companies. I dont buy impulsively, the only things i do buy and are books and occasionally clothes, shiny things on the Internet dont tempt me. But there might be a hole in my defenses i'm beginning to glimpse on the same horizon. The next time Jimmy Wales personally asks me for money for Wikipedia, how can i refuse? Or Dave Freer for that matter. He is an SFF writer based in Africa who has decided to emigrate with family and pets to Australia. While moving the humans is no problem, it seems the pets will need to be quarantined and the cost for that comes to a ridiculous 25000 dollars! They dont have the money and so he has decided to put up chapters of his book "Save The Dragons" as and when people pay for them. I finished reading all the paid-for chapters that have been put up, and i think that is where i'm going to Shree Ganesh my card. Not because i'm that fond of pets, but because i'm ridiculously fond of SFF. And Save The Dragons is awesome. At least the 22 chapters i read are.

P.S. Got the Dave Freer story from Whatever, which apart form general entertainment, is an awesome place to discover new SFF. Especially the Big Idea posts, where he gets new authors to come and talk about the idea behind their books. They make me itch, most of them, they are that interestingly written. If there was a big flashing button there that said "Buy and this shalt be delivered at your doorstep", i cant think of too many things that would stop me from clicking on it.