The class that takes you for a ride

We were taken for a ride, we are being taken for a ride and we will always be taken for a ride perennially, by one particular class of people. They are not punished by the government. In fact, some revenue accrues to the government if that class operates successfully. Even the opposition parties do not oppose that class. If the opposition become the ruling party, it too would benefit from this class. It is a different matter altogether that the ruling party leaders and the opposition alike take us all for a ride and that too, on a permanent basis. The media, particularly the TV channels, makes huge money from the revenue that is collected from this class.

You must have guessed by now which class of people are being referred to above. Yes, it is the ‘ADVERTISERS’ on Television channels. Barring one or two per cent of them, all others hoodwink us all.

If you give a particular food drink, your kids grow taller and taller and a particular detergent soap would make your stained clothes look even brighter than the new white cloth. ‘Daag achcha hai’ (The stain is good) – because, the detergent can never remove it. If you use a particular tooth-paste, it makes your teeth and gums healthier, because it has salt in it. The tooth-pastes of the same firm have so many other tooth-pastes and we do not know what to do with them. One other tooth-paste claims to have three things in it, viz., tooth-paste, floss and mouthwash.  How a tooth-paste can have floss in it is beyond anyone’s guess, but they go on advertising. If not today, one day, one weak moment, you will certainly accept it. Or at least, that is what the advertiser thinks.

When a man uses a particular perfume, the ladies in dozens (and also the other gender sometimes) fall flat for him.  You can make the best use of a soft-drink to win over a girl, keeping at bay the other contenders. If you go for another soft-drink, you will make others also drink it and that too, with your money. None of us care to bother how ridiculous these suggestions are. Some popular film heroes resort to acrobatic adventures to snatch a small bottle of soft drink, which one can get at Rs.10. When one earns in billions, one should not be so miserly, I suppose.

If you take a tablet or capsule, your health and vitality will go on improving forever. We just ignore the fact that one who said that had to go for treatment of cancer. A man suffering from piles is afraid of surgery to get rid of the problem and hence he goes to an Ayurvedic doctor. The doctor prescribes some medicine. The old man continues to visit the doctor with the same complaint and the doctor relentlessly gives the same medicine each time. There are no indications as yet that the old man had been cured of the disease.

After eating a particular chocolate, two gentlemen become so deranged that they ask the tailor to cut and reduce the pants of their father into shorts. We laugh it out, but we never realise that the advertiser wants us to eat that chocolate and become so deranged.

And then, we have Sandhi Sudha. Jockie Shroff, Rohini Hattangadi, Govinda et al promote it on Teleshopping. My wife suffers from knee problem (the doctors call it osteoarthritis) and I ordered for one over telephone. The next day, a man landed at my residence, delivered it, collected the money and left.  She used it for three months and there was not a trace of improvement. It is an outright lie that the film stars say over television in teleshopping programmes. In fact, all other teleshopping ads are as good only.

And there are those who ‘stone’ you to success, fame, prosperity and aristocracy. Yes, they sell the precious stones and ‘yantras’. They try to convince you that by spending a few thousands of rupees for buying a precious stone or yantra, you can earn in millions or even billions and shoot to fame the moment you wear them. As against the ‘actual price’ of say Rs.10000, they offer it to us for Rs.2999 – because they are so ‘considerate’ to us probably. In the hope of becoming a millionaire or a billionaire, we become poorer by a few thousands of rupees.

Amitabh Bachchan and Nagarjun say that Kalyan Jewellers are the best and others are no good.  Madhavan advocates Joy Alukkas. SP Balasubramaniam says that Andhra Jewellers @ Naj are the best for Nelloreans (it is because the firm has no branches elsewhere). Tamanna prefers Khajana jewellers to the rest. Sowcar Janaki and Suhasini call CMR Shopping Malls-Chandana Brothers, Nellore the best, since they have been here for generations. Frankly, I never heard about those jewellers two decades ago. May be, they then had an elusive existence. Each one blames the others of cheating the public. These advertising firms appear to make no gain for themselves and the ads appear to be for the sole purpose of playing a spoilsport for the other jewellers. Since those who appear in these ads are all reputed, would it not be safe to assume that they are all saying the truth and that all these jewellers are not worth the name? If there is a message, we have to take it.

This open cheating of the public continues unabated. The television channels say that they do not subscribe to the views or claims of the advertisers and that you only have to ascertain the genuineness of their claims before buying a product. The government pretends not to see this open looting of the public money.

But, we continue to watch the ads on TV and buy them. We may not believe that the products are as genuine as the advertisement claims, but we just try it out once. Seeing us buy it, others buy. And then, seeing others buy, we too follow suit. And the chain continues. And the ‘ride’ never ends.

 

 

 

 

With vocabulary, the politicians and the press take us for a ride:

When Narendra Modi said that he would have been sad even if a puppy is run over by his chauffeur driven car, a hue and cry has been raised, particularly by the Congress Party spokesmen and the press. They said that it amounted to his comparing the Muslims killed in 2002 riots to a puppy and that he should have been careful in his selection of vocabulary, as the analogy of ‘puppy’ was an inept one.  To those who learnt what Mr. Modi had to say, it was a clear statement of his concern for even a puppy and that one only had to imagine his concern for the human beings.  

In his all out criticism of Narendra Modi, Mr. Digvijay Singh, General Secretary, Congress Party had said that he (Mr. Modi) was playing to ‘public gallery’. In English, there is an idiomatic phrase ‘playing to the gallery’, which means that one does something that gets the approval of the lower elements in the audience. Does he mean that Mr. Modi was playing to the lower elements of the public? Does he categorize the public into 1. Higher elements and 2. Lower elements? If he did not mean it, should he not have been careful in selection of his vocabulary.

Hoodwinking and taking people for a ride has become de rigueur for the politicians these days.

Idea Data Card

When it comes to ‘innovative’ ideas, be they good, bad or ugly, there is no one to beat IDEA CELLULAR or Idea Data Card.

In an advertisement on TV channels a few months ago, the famous Bollywood star, Ajitabh Bachchan, who has his own mobile phone in his pocket, asks another elderly man standing beside him for the latter’s mobile phone. The elderly person politely gives his own phone to Ajitabh Bachchan, who, gives it back saying that if the mobile phone is for mere making calls, he does not want it. The senior then is magnanimous to offer it again saying that he won’t ask for the charges and that he (Ajitabh) can use it. Then, Ajitabh takes out his own mobile phone to show what extra features he has in it. Insulting an elderly person this way is the height of cruelty and malignant and rude behaviour. The same role is donned by the Tollywood actor, Mahesh Babu in Telugu. Somehow, their fathers were saved the ignominy of donning the role of the elderly person. What a way to attract new customers for this product of IDEA!

And the moment a customer gets this product, he would be taken for a ride without his knowing. My son had bought me a USB Data card of IDEA when we surrendered BSNL landline with broadband at Machilipatnam. He gave it to me for my use. Even when there is balance in it, it prompts you to recharge. I innocently recharged online and surprise of surprises, the previous balance is totally gone and whatever recharge you made only remained. In a Savings Bank Account, if you have a balance of Rs.1000 and deposit another Rs.500, the balance then becomes Rs.1500. But, in IDEA data card, it becomes mere Rs.500. Can anyone explain the logic behind this? How TRAI has approved such unethical practices by the operators is not clear. Again, when I was out of station, the balance in it expired and I telephoned to one acquaintance in my place to go and deposit Rs.200 so that I can resume my internet activity through the data card. He did not do it for a day. I thought he was not inclined to do that and therefore, entrusted the task to some other person, who promptly went to the IDEA outlet and got my data card recharged with Rs.200. The earlier acquaintance, who did not act for over a day, also went to the outlet and got my data card recharged with a similar amount. By both of them recharging the account, only one amount remained and the other had just vanished. But, I had to pay both of them Rs.200 each on my return to town.

One need not shell out some money from one’s pocket, but one is not expected to loot another’s.

Another interesting feature is that you can recharge this on your own, on line, but when there is a balance, you lose the earlier balance on recharge and when there is no balance in it, it does not work at all and you cannot recharge it online.

Who else can get such unique ideas than IDEA?

Finally, I chose to bid adieu to IDEA.