The Phone Call

Our young protagonist is found at the best of his moods when he is eating. Who is our protagonist? Well he is young man. An extremely rich single male usually referred as 'Khoka'. It was of-course not the name that his father had given him. His father had the lion share of the diamond mine 'Khoni'. Khoka was just 21 years old when he became an orphan. His father's best friend venture capitalist 'Boro-Babu' took Khoka under his wings. Well he actually cut a deal with him. Khoka can stay at home. Surf the net as much as he wants. Play as many new versions of GTA as he wants. Order as many Pizzas as his hearts desire. All he needed to do for this was to give 50% of the cash he inherited to Boro-Babu. Khoni shares & some fixed investments would be his security. , while the returns from Boro-Babu would be credited in his expense account. Boro-Babu sweetened the deal by promising to transfer Khoka to a fully maintained furnished apartment right in the heart of the city. The icing was an official role for Khoka where he would be shifting through possible ventures. Khoka was dim-witted as per his late father but he was not a fool to miss-out this opportunity.
So one sunny afternoon we find Khoka munching on the last slice of the cheese burst pizza watching the MTV GPL, when he gets a phone call on his N85 mobile phone.
"Hello" he said gruffly bit astonished that he cannot recognize the number
"Good afternoon sir" responded a cute voice” I am ruby calling on behalf of XYZ Bank"
"Yes tell me"
"Sir, we really appreciate that you have maintained a fantastic balance in your account for the last few months. We would like to send a privilege credit card to you."
"Errr"
"Sir there is a lot of benefits for using our privilege card. You shall get 1 point for every 100 rupee you spend. & these points can be exchanged for special gifts at the end of the year. As a welcome gift to you, we would put up your name in the privilege lottery for this month. The winner of this lottery would get to go any domestic destination of his choose free of cost. We have partnership with a range of restaurants where you would a minimum of 10% discount on the bill. We have special fare for people buying tickets using this privilege card......"
Khoka wanted the phone conversation to end. His final piece of the pizza was getting cold & the cheese was on the verge of dropping off. & 10% discount in restaurants. That can not be bad.
"Ok send me the card"
The card arrives in less than a week. The courier guy actually arrived with the delivery boy from Dominos & hence had no problem in reaching the flat.
Slowly Khoka realized that he would get phone-calls at all possible times of the day, especially when he was eating.
He found really innovative methods while searching online at

http://wannabewodehouse.blogspot.com/2007/03/mother-of-all-strategies.html

He had great fun taking to task all the telemarketers who had unknowingly called him up
But this lasted for only a few days. Over-indulgence in junk food led to obesity & indigestion. The latter led to minor heart-burn which led to a minor heart-attack. Unfortunately he was alone (as he was at most points of time) & collapsed on the kitchen floor. He was found dead next day by the cleaner. Only his face bore any mark of the painful death.
BoroBabu took care of all the final rites. He had a deep pang of guilt & cursed himself for not taking sufficient care. But he was also busy with his life. He lamented to his friends "A sad family. Had everything... But none lived long enough to enjoy it to the full"




I have mentioned the inspiration of the story. Sadly I realized that I can-not write as good as "wannabe".
I had got reminded of a telemarketing phone call that an ex-colleague of mine had.
He had taken a lifetime pre-paid connection from Airtel. Vodafone calls him up to get him to take a new-connection. My ex-colleague responds that he is fully happy with his present connection (not sure now) & is not likely to change his plan till his current plan lasts.
Telemarketer: How long would you be in this plan Sir
Ex-Colleague: 20 years
Telemarketer: Ok Sir. I would call you after that