May 24, 2005 08:48 PM
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(Updated May 24, 2005 08:48 PM)
THE STOCK MARKET
Investing money in the stock markets is exciting and calls for guts, nerves and killer instincts. I always admire the great gamblers who come good wherever they gamble. I admire the crooks who made millions by floating stocks like Teak Wood plantations.
Stock markets are not for the conservatives, chicken hearted folks with concepts of making a decent living with obsolete cliched phrases like “HARD EARNED MONEY”. No one respects that. Not in the least burnt out fags like me.
MY MARKET EXPERIENCES
It was a red letter day 19th September 1992. Our schools OLD BOYS DAY. By sheer chance I was able to make it to this meeting where the Chief Guest was none other than the charismatic Madhav Rao Scindia.
I met another old boy dude, Rajeev who used to be a few years my junior in school but a smart dude. Over drinks n dinner I asked him routine questions but his replies was not routine. He told me he was now a full time Stock Market Player.
I said “ Hey Raju, you were with the MNC naa? “ He replied that he was no more a widow living on an MNC pension(read salary) and that he had a CARD in the Pune and Mumbai stock exchange. Now a card in the Stock Exchange is BIG BIG TIME! A card carrying broker is bigger than all the big SHARKS in the sea!
Now that was a strong trigger. He handed me his visiting card and said “Meet me in my office if you can.” My decision to meet him SEALED MY FATE!
RAJEEV: THE BIG TIME STOCK MARKET PLAYER
Rajeev came from a less than well to do back ground. He was academically inclined and always fared well in exams. Years later he finished his Engineering and landed up with a great job in an MNC. He started dabbling in stocks, came good and decided to go into Stock Market operations full time.
I went to his office. He was a young 32 years old, an air-conditioned office in an up market address, smart building. Clients were begging for his time in the waiting room. He had a great car, a great apartment and was swaggering as if he owned the world.
He greeted me with aplomb! He said, “ Friend read this book. It is simple. I can either invest your money direct or else you can lend it to me at an assured return of 18 percent.”
I read the slim book on Stock Market For The New, ignored all the cautious advises decided to invest myself and become rich like Rajeev.
INVESTMENT IN EQUITIES
I placed orders worth Rs 40, 000/- and lo! The stocks landed in my hands a few weeks later. All Blue Chip companies I dare say.
I was now a player. I fanatically read the Economic Times, Dalal Street Journal. And what else. I started to do forward trading. Everything in life became secondary to the Market Forces. *
Harshad Mehta(God Bless his soul) pushed the market through the stratospheric roof! The combination of Narsimha Rao and Manmohan Singh did great for the confidence of the Stock Market. I went forward with deals of 50k, then 60 k and so on. Week later I sold. Money money money I made! What I made in a week I never made in a year by yours truly “Hard earned money” concept. Christ, I was making money just using my brains while poor factory workers were sweating it out pushing manufacturing figures. I was an expert at P/E ratios, Profit after Tax, Dividends, Fundamentals, Technicals, Bonus shares and all the stock market jargon. I WAS KING!
My 40 k became 180 K. Cool, when my stocks went up, I sold and reinvested. Those stocks where the prices went down I brought again at lower prices to “AVERAGE” my initial high price. Man this more exciting than Horse Racing and even SEX!
I started to think big and boasted to all my friends how I was on my way to becoming a Millionaire! All this while, Raju…………… smiled.
THEN SOMETHING HAPPENED!
One black day! Just one bad day!
The BABRI MASJID was brought down. Riots all over India! The markets started to go down. Then the crash! Reliance was quoting at Rs 93/- ! My stocks were like worthless paper! Overnight my ego was deflating. I was like a scared rat wanting to jump off a sinking ship! My bravado, courage, deserted me. My wife kids! Gwaaaad! What did I do? Raju you sonnaa b*tch!
Raju was cool. “These things happen friend. Hang on.” Hang on? Christ, I have a family to feed man! I invested money that was not entirely mine!
QED
I sold everything….everything….booked my losses and moved out of the Market. Never went in to the Market again. I chugged along in life, quite lifeless. Like a widow!
Rajeev survived. In the bear run he prospered. He was safe.
Until a decade later a typhoon called KETAN PARIKH and his 10 K stocks hit Raju hard. To cut a long story short, Raju was wiped out clean. From net worth of Rs 4/- crores he signed outta the Market minus Rs 5 crores. But smart dude that he is he moved into Insurance and came good!
WHEN TEMPTATION COMES YOU GIVE RIGHT IN!
But now, 12 years later….I get tempted to gamble again. Once a gambler always a gambler!
My e-mail box pops up with SHARE KHAN. Now there is demat! On line trading from home! SHAREKHAN excites me no end! Now I have Rs 3/- lakhs to invest! All saving instruments are down. PPF is useless, so are all the Vikas Patras. I have no family to support. Kids all settled. No worry no hurry!
SHARE KHAN……I will be in your JAWS sooner than later!
