Respected Sir/Madam,

Despite my threat to your newspaper, a few weeks ago, that I will be stopping your newspaper to balance our home budget, I have not discontinued till now. Old habits die hard. The problem of balancing the home budget, however, remains. This problem is being attacked by Mangalam in the last 2 months, quite unknown to me, in a rather risky way.

Mangalam has started doing some stock trading. I never thought, she would get into such nefarious activities. But it seems she is now deep into it and even enjoying it.

Last week, I was watching a very enjoyable old movie of Gregory Peck on DVD, when Mangalam came excitedly and snatched both the remotes, TV's and DVD player's , from me. I thought,maybe, she has learnt on Whatsapp that they are registering for COVID vaccine somewhere, so she wants to know more about it. After fiddling here and there, she finally settled on one of the business news channels, where lots of tickers were moving like snakes in both directions.

Here is the conversation we both had..

MB: Watch out old man. Mrs Bector's is getting listed today.

JB: What is going on? Doctors or Bectors? What channel you want?

MB: You remain stuck in your old movies and books. I want CNBC. Don’t you know, Mrs Bector's is a hot company. I have got my first share allotment.

JB: Since when are you into shares? I did not see you signing any papers or going to bank.

MB: Digital man ! Everything is on an app now. I have opened a Zerodha account. I had first applied for Burger King. I did not get any allotment.. But,you know, I have got allotment in Mrs Bector's.

JB: Who has got you into this? Our neighbour Raman who sells LIC policies to 70 year olds?

MB: No no.. In our Ladies Club , we have a very dynamic lady Mrs Patel.. She has made lots of money on stock-market. Her family from Rajkot give her all the tips. Now she is teaching all the members how to trade. Very easy!

JB: I had told you, Mangalam, about my misadventures in market before our marriage. I had a colleague, I think his name was some Bansal. He told us about how investing in technology stocks was so easy. I even made some money initially with my savings. I got greedy and borrowed some money from appa.. I lost not only my money but my father’s also. I remember what my appa had said “What this Bansal Vansal can do, you cannot do. Pledge that you will not go anywhere near share market”.

MB: Yes, I remember. Old story, you have told me so many times. But, this time it is different.

JB: It is just the same. Only difference is instead of Mr Bansal, now we have a Mrs Patel.. What they will be able to do, we will never be able to do.. We should stick to our State Bank FDs and Post Office schemes .. At best, we can earn some extra 1-2 % interest on FDs in Sundaram or Shriram. Why do we need all this tension in our age!

MB: Do you realise what we were missing out? Everybody is into it. Mrs Bector's issue has got oversubscribed 200 times. I am so lucky. I bought at 288 Rs and within 10 days, it has already gone to 500 Rs.

JB: Then sell it for profit and come out. Close this Jaroda Baroda mannangkatti account.

MB: Mrs Patel is saying it is a compounder. It may become 2000 Rs in 1 year.

JB: What is this compounder? The only compounder I know was attached to our family Doctor.

As expected, the conversation ended abruptly.

As a conscientious paper, I request you to caution these novices like Mangalam, who think that money-making in stocks is as easy as taking selfies on a phone.

Already, from the droopy face of Mangalam, I can sense that Mrs Bector’s stock price is sliding. I am afraid this is not going to end well.

Yours in anxiety,

J.Bhoothalingam