Skip to main content

Telecom Money Bags….

Around this time last weekend I received an sms…which ran like this..

‘An interesting fact about October 2010. This has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays, all in one month. It happens once in 823 years……’…..The message went on, urging people to forward to others….

Normally I press the delete button for such forwards, but this time [probably because of the mathematical wonder in it], I instinctively forwarded the message to a few friends. No sooner that I had pressed the trigger – I suddenly realized there is something potentially amiss.

This situation of triple 5s, will happen whenever a 31 days month start on Friday. There are 5 months with 31 days and there is a good chance this will situation will happen more regularly than 823. I checked up the calendar and May 2009 too had ‘5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays’.

So all these forwards we receive that evoke mercy [1 paisa per sms to cancer patients], fear [forward or else…], greed [forward and get magic] irritate most, maybe give solace to many and give money bags to a select few. These are the telecom operators.

Laughable jokes and wise anecdotes are most welcome. Mobile companies will probably will do their patrons and themselves good service by initiating a bulk chain of such good sms-es. But initiating a bulk sms forward with a tag to forward to so many number to either get rewards is an awesomely ingenious trick perfected by many.

I suspect that all these forwards with juicy details – including some eminently saveable message at times – are probably initiated by mobile companies. I wont be surprised if they hire people and give them targets to send smses. It is quite possible that people would be busy racking their brains during the week to create compelling 160 character copys to push over the weekend to catch with the still targets. Something like the helmet checking spree with traffic policemen engage in towards the end of year [or before a festival] to swell their official or personal targets.

So may this be a nice reminder, that next time we get a sms to forward to so many friends to swell your bank balance, remember it wasn’t sent by a well-wisher to swell your account; but by someone who has got conned to swell the account of the mobile operator….you will be smart to smile at it not forward to unsuspecting friends and can dutifully forward a fraction of the amount you saved by into my bank account..:)

Bhubaneshwar
October 16, 2010

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Foreign Universities in India: Boon or Bane?

    Dr. Partha S Mohapatra (Originally written in March, 2010)   The cabinet yesterday gave its nod to the “Foreign Universities Bill”. I first read the report on Wall Street Journal about the Indian Governments’ intention to open up the higher education sector to foreign universities [Delhi Seeks to Admit Foreign Universities,  Wall Street Journal June 11, 2009 ].  Subsequently, I read similar reports in other newspapers.  Most of the se reports make a compelling story to allow foreign universities to operate in India. The main argument that is made is on following premises: i)      It will save India about $4 billion in foreign exchange [“Leading foreign institutes may soon be here” Economic Times , 11 Sep 2006”]. ii)    India loses because of brain drain when brilliant people go abroad and study and stay there. iii)   We need foreign investments because the government does not ...
41 comments
Read more

Dura Pahada Sundara [Far-away Mountains are Beautiful]

I realize how seriously we take a place we visit specifically to see it – an event in itself, and how much taken for granted are those places that we can hop in an out with regularity and ease. Interestingly I had never wrote or thought of writing about Puri or Konark or Cuttack. Places for which reams have been and can be written. The history, the culture, the cuisine and the local chutzpah [espl. Puri / Cuttack]. Even more interestingly, I have never pondered enough on these places and their unique niceties to have them simmering in my cerebral consciousness. They are somewhere deep there sedimented at best; and at [likely] worst, I do not have the desired ammunition to do justice to write anything substantial. Probably, I will have to resort to the frivolous flourish of the might of the language as a cover. A point to note - I have never seen the Bali Yatra [Cuttackis don’t faint please]. The Puri beach and temple I have always felt is my backyard [so had the taken for granted attit...
4 comments
Read more

For a religion or a product, an open door policy will work best

In the recent past, we have been witness to catchy rhetoric with regards to religious conversion. Strident calls to banning conversion, Ghar Wapsi, Love Jihad et al. I would like to stick my neck out and say almost everyone, right (‘bhakts’), left (‘liberals’), centre (government), has missed out on the most balanced perspective. A person has a right to choose a city and country different from his parents, he or she can also change his or her name given by the parents, what is wrong with the person choosing a religion different from he or she was born with. Religion is an experiential product. Products thrive when they are responsive to customer feedback. We go to five-star hotel to get pampered, if we are unhappy with the service we may not return. If the hotel has a problem with service quality, then over a period of time it will lose substantial business; then either it will buckle up based on customer feedback or will go out of business. That is exactly relevant for a re...
4 comments
Read more