It’s a Fake Love Letter – Varalotti’s Primer In Calling Someone’s Bluff

Dear Vandhana,

Nothing comes free in the world. That is the best lesson if we want protection from conmen.

There is nothing called free lunch. Not even free snacks or tea. Every thing is priced. And if you are not able to see the price tag, it only means that the price is way high.

The Nigerial Scandal is ample proof for these maxims. (Looks like nobody wants to know about these scandals and how I managed them, of course, on behalf of my clients.)

But Vandhana, after donkey's years in a profession where to assess the authenticity of a person or his proposal is the basic survival technique, I have found out one thing. We should, at no point of time lose our ability to trust people. The world is full of crooks, no doubt. But in the end, good is slightly more than bad. The world is slightly inclined towards the good and the noble.

I know some people who have completely lost their ability to trust people. And their lives are miserable. Let's not go to that extreme.

Trust but verify, has been my maxim all along.

Thanks Vandhana for sharing your experiences.
regards,
sridhar

Dear Kamla,
One thing I have found out is that you pay too high an emotional price when you want to guard yourself from conmen. People who get conned once in a way lead happier lives. Though getting conned should not become a habit.

Some called the other day promising me a few millions if I could just cover their expenses which was a small 5% of the some promised. I told them I am game. I told them to fund that "small 5%" from their own resources and when my millions come, I will compensate ten times the amount spent on my account. The next sound I heard was the receiver being banged on the phone.

And I don't believe anybody who advises us to 'sacrifice'. Soon somebody appears with a gold plate to collect our 'sacrifical offerings'.

And in my experience the difference between godmen and conmen (but for a very few exceptions) is the demography of their potential victims.

About Airlines I too have many sweet memories. May be one day I should open a thread to share them with you. But I want to be sure that Indhu does not visit this thread. ha ha ha.
Love,
sridhar

Dear Sri,

That was a solution I had not thought about so far. Thanks and will surely apply it to my immediate boss.

Do tell us more about the Nigerian scandals - i thought it was only an email doing the round ups.

And Airlines Hotel is one of my favourite jaunts too for discount sales and food too. I was working on St. Marks Road for 8 yrs.

So walking down with you would revive memories for me too

Dear Sridhar,

Very nice lessons indeed, thanx for sharing with us, hopefully it will help us in our daily life.

Dear Chitra,

After applying the rule let's know what happened. Regarding Nigerian Scandal it is just the email doing the round-ups.

But occasionally a naive guy gets caught there and takes that as real.
One of these days I'll tell you about a young friend of mine caught up in that scandal and my almost pathetic efforts to save him.

So Airlines Hotel has malarum ninaivugal for almost all of us. Good.
And you know something Chitra, my wife had read my earlier post about my seeing a girl smoking there.

You see my emphasis was only on the shock of seeing a girl smoking. My wife, naturally shifted the emphasis to the girl and more importantly her looks.
Needless to say I had a tough time.

Now Senior Sri, can you guide me on this?

regards,
sridhar

Dear Cheer,
thanks for those kind words. I just need to add a caveat here also. Every situation has to be judged individually. There is no general universal rule for calling some one's bluff, though there are some basic principles.
You may take alertness, detachment to the fruits of action etc as principles of guidance. But not the outcome of the incidents which I have mentioned.

Thanks once again,
sridhar

Dear Sri,

I think that now you will have to change your mind about posting a separate thread about your Airlines Jaunts lest your spare time at home is spent in convincing Madam

I never that Airlines Hotel was this popular! All those years ago, we went there for good food only, no other hanky pankies:)
The rest of you, do come out with your escapades:))

L, Kamla

Dear Chitra,
I have to give this to my Boss, that when she questioned me about ogling at the smoking girl, she also told me that the piece was well-written. Her punch line was, "I could have enjoyed it better had it been written by anyboy else."

I was bowled over, Chitra. What you say?
sridhar

Now Kamla, you are a pucca Bangalorean. So I need not tell you. Airlines hotel is extremely convenient from the logistical as well as the strategical point of view.

In fact some 6 years ago I met....
No Indhu has now seen this thread. So will talk about that later.

(this is neither sridhar or varalotti, but some other person who has stolen his identity (and password) - (u..sh. my way of convincing my wife.)