Single bells...

In case you happen to be reading this and don’t know me (I highly doubt there’s anyone like that), you’d know that I’m a nineteen-year old Bangalorean who is currently in NITK Surathkal and wears his ‘Bangy-ness’ (if that’s a word) proudly on his sleeve. A consequence of my being in Surathkal is my limited social skills. My ‘conversation starters’ include “Saw the Man U match last week?” or “NFS Undercover lags on my comp maga. Yours?” or “Saw the latest Big Bang Theory episode? Sheldon rocks!” or “Quantum of Solace sucked, don’t you think?” or the likes, almost all of which, needless to say, don’t go down very well with the fairer sex. This is presumably why I have limited female acquaintances, let alone a girlfriend. Since high school, there has always been a group of us (a la G.R.O.S.S.) who’d take potshots and make fun of other guys who went around with girls who’d be merrily digging gaping holes in their pockets. But as I went from school to PU college and then to NITK, the numbers on my side gradually began to dwindle and how! The girls are taking down my men, one by one. I fear I might be fighting a lone battle…

That apart, as I was in town the other day, I happened to be at a neighbourhood recharge store with one of my most trusted men (who I think is ‘taken’ too…darn you girls!) where I asked for a Rs.112 recharge card. Since I was running late, I hurriedly took the card, giving him exact change. Once I scratched the card after getting home, this message flashed on my cell - Dear BSNL subscriber, your account has been successfully recharged with Rs. 902 and your current balance is Rs.911.42. Startled, I turned the card around only to see that I had been given a Rs.1124 card instead of a Rs.112 card!!! Free currency! Awesome!!! I never paid the store the remaining money – I never asked for so much, did I? It was his mistake, and I really hope I was the only benefactor of his absent-mindedness. Moral issues aside, here’s the real problem – I have too much currency and I don’t know what to do with it. Apart from the daily conversations with my parents and sisters, I hardly make any calls. Here are a few possible ways of emptying Rs.750 (that’s how much I have left) within 3 months –

Make calls – That is how I’ve spent close to 200 so far. From an old neighbour who barely remembered me to my high school History teacher, I’ve called them all. Why text when you can call? The only text messages I now send are the customary good-night-sweet-dreams forwards.

2. Send pointless SMSes – Done that. I’ve voted for arbit contestants on SaReGaMaPa, answered ‘Do you think’ questions on the Times Of India, sent traffic updates to radio stations and even participated in stupid ‘win assured prizes’ contests. But it gets very boring after some time (read 1 day). So that rules out the arbit SMS option.

3. Caller tunes – I would, but the ‘latest ‘song BSNL has to offer is ‘Mausam yeh awesome bada’ from Kidnap!Need we say more? That pretty much rules out the caller tune idea as well.

4. Get someone to talk to – ‘Get a girl na… problem solved!’ seems to be the most prevalent and viable option to most of my Bangalorean friends. And I don’t see that happening anytime in the near future. This is where my lack of socialization with girls and my not having a girlfriend has cost me (or NOT cost me). Besides, I’m not too keen on getting one either, not as yet... :)

So there you have it. 750 rupees. 3 months. Any ideas?

P.S. : Merry Christmas folks :)