“I have come for your sake” - UG

UG and family

Countless were the times when UG stood by my side and steadied my life boat rocked by life’s swirling waters.

Anyone who dares to follow the dictates of one’s heart and refuses to toe the line and trod the narrow, beaten pathways of society or culture, would inevitably end up like the boat at the mercy of 'high winds on high seas'.

As I plunged headlong into my relentless spiritual pursuits and other social misadventures, it was UG, who played the key role of an anchor! His sagely and timely advice in moments of crisis greatly replenished my inner strength and courage. He made sure that one would never get sucked into the whirlpool of self-doubt and despair.

I had lived out such a checkered life! I was naïve and credulous, vulnerable and sentimental. Idealistic and dreamy to a fault, I would surrender my time, energies and finances to anything that appealed to me as noble and honourable. Perhaps these personal traits or infirmities were the ‘warty outgrowth’ of my value system!

My list of misadventures included unconditional, dedicated services to gurus or spiritual guides, who I naively believed, selflessly worked for the good of the world. At some point, I had also slogged as a freelance activist crusading against the ‘white collar crimes’ perpetrated by wily bankers, hell-bent on exploiting financially illiterate masses through dubious finance schemes and options.

I was blissfully unaware of the traps of social life and largely remained ignorant about the dangers involved while essaying the role of the good Samaritan!

Once on seeing me carry an old, invalid lady into an ambulance (Major’s mother-in-law in the Bangalore farmhouse), UG had gently chided me placing his palm on my chest, mockingly reading my heart, “Sir! I can feel the beats of your heart – you have a do-gooder’s high” but quickly added, “No sir! Am just joking! Thank you so much for helping her!”

That was me, impulsive, overly-sensitive, not really given to much thinking, planning or premeditation.

During the heady days of my active social life, salary was my only source of income. It was decent by any standard but fell woefully short of the demands placed on me by my own relentless social engagement. To support my beliefs and social commitments, I needed tons and tons of cash. Money had to be raised somehow. From where the finance was sourced hardly mattered , as long as it was legitimate! It could be a high-interest personal loan from a predatory bank or a high-risk credit card from a blood-thirsty multi-national bank. As long as they met my huge demand for ready cash to support an egalitarian mission, I thought all risks were worth taking!

My naiveté and foolhardiness knew no bounds.

Slowly but surely my finances were spinning out of control and I was getting hurled towards the brink of financial disaster. The writing was on the wall but I was a blind man, blinded by the glare of my ideals and values!

My fragile finances started to bleed. My monthly outgo toward loans was so huge that it siphoned off my entire salary on day one! Really speaking, I was no more than a well clothed beggar with a concrete roof over my head! To make matters worse, I was in charge of three hungry mouths. My wife and two little children had to be taken care of too!

To sustain myself, I started borrowing heavily and began to shop around for high-risk, high-liquidity credit cards. Many of my 'do-gooder' activities required instant cash! I somehow managed to get hold of not just one but three credit cards! I was plain broke and so would draw cash from one credit card to pay off the monthly outgo of another card and also continue to finance my social projects at the same time. This indeed is the most expensive form of credit. At one point, I had maxed the credit limit on all of my three cards! That essentially meant that my repayments primarily went towards servicing of the huge interest component rather than repayment of the principal amount!

The compounded interest on the ‘roll-over’ credit of a typical credit card could be anywhere up to a whopping 58% p.a., based on a beguiling 3% monthly interest that sounds harmless!

This is a gut-wrenching piece of math and truth!

The financial wisdom, “Credit card is for convenience and not for credit” eluded me at the time! Though an engineer by profession, I was ‘financially-illiterate’ a bloke unaware of the traps of high-finance and the fraud-ridden ‘fine print’!

It was Terman who nailed it, when he said, “Reading the fine print is education; not reading the fine print is experience!”

My car, purchased on credit, gathered dust and rust in my parking lot with a dry fuel tank. I was not able to afford gasoline! I began to walk the streets of Bombay while on daily errands unable to afford the auto rickshaw and resorted to public transport while commuting to office!

Unsuspectingly, I had walked into a ‘Debt Trap’ - the most feared form of financial illness of modern times - the bane of salaried middle classes across the globe who endlessly borrow to satisfy their ever growing greed for comfort and style !

Deep down, I had at least the satisfaction that all my borrowed money had gone primarily towards sponsoring social causes, serving many an egalitarian purpose. I was financially down but not out! Somewhere deep inside of me, I heard a sanely voice that egged me on, ‘Keep on going! This Too Would Pass’!

I had borrowed money from every available source with interest rates ranging from single to double digits! In spite of the crisis, I had never defaulted on a single loan!  I continued to remain 'respectable'!

I told myself 'enough is enough' and decided to take charge of my tottering finances. All through the crisis, I stubbornly refused to seek help from my dad or brother, who I knew, would not hesitate to stretch their fragile finances in order to dole me out of my dire straits. I didn't want to bother or burden anyone!

I took the responsibility for my mess and earnestly and sincerely started working towards a solution. It kept eluding me for quite a while!

Finally I did what anyone would do under such gruelling circumstances. I decided to consolidate all my loans into a single fat loan financed from a public sector bank with a simple and transparent interest rate. Thus I would end up paying a single monthly installment and would not be saddled anymore with multiple, needless and burdensome transactions. If I were lucky, I might even end up with some extra money that I could use for my purposes after settling all the existing loans! I would certainly gain some traction!

Why choose a public sector bank? Because these banks in India still have a face! If you discover a scam, you could slap a manager! Yes, he or she is still human and hence answerable and accountable for your hard earned money. But you can never nail a private or an MNC bank! Private bank is just a piece of faceless electronics –it is essentially the answering machine! You can hardly penetrate the thick-layer of pseudo customer-care ('customer-scare', really!) when you are faced with a real problem. You will get bounced around with various push button options or worse will be subjected to the never-ending recorded voice messages or boring tunes. 

Many scams get perpetrated on the guileless public, thanks to the façade of the phone banking system and its ubiquitous answering machine!

Finally, I zeroed down on a bank for seeking the 'mother of all loans'! I promptly submitted my documents and complied with all their instructions. I was pinning my big hope on this big loan that would end my big trouble. As the bank pursued its due-diligence, I crossed my fingers and waited with bated breath!

As days passed, my anxiety grew and finally my sanction letter arrived through the courier. I was in for a rude shock! My loan eligibility was Rs. 40, 000 said the letter, less than half of my take-home salary!  

Gosh! My salary income from my airline job combined with my mortgaged home together with my hypothecated car, all of these added to my net worth of Rs. 40, 000! The harsh reality was that my credit worthiness was not very different from the net-worth of a stone cutter or a plumber who slogged hard for his daily bread!

I was brutally hurt! I stayed back home that evening contemplating of my next course of action. Sleep deserted me as I mulled over my worth in the eyes of the financial world and recounted my looming liabilities and commitments. As my wife and children slept in the next room, unable to sleep , I began pacing up and down in the main hall, through the night, unable to digest the piece of truth. 

Yes, it was a shocking proof that I was indeed a financial wreck and could no longer survive under the circumstances without some angelic intervention.

It was nearly 3 0' clock in the wee hours of the morning when my physical and mental exhaustion finally took hold of me and I dropped down on my sofa and fell fast asleep.

I suddenly woke up to a call from Kamal, my friend! The time was 4:30 a.m. Kamal gleefully announced, "UG has just arrived in Bombay. Am calling from airport. He is on a short visit! He wants to see you. Start immediately. (UG was shouting 'Pronto!' in the background). See you soon at Parekhji's place, am about to drive him there!"

By the time I made my way to Santacruz, many UG friends had already arrived at Parekhji's place. As I settled down on the floor in front of UG, he turned to me, looked me in the eye with great intensity and poignantly remarked, "Sir, I have come for your sake!"

It was instant relief!

Coming straight from UG, given my plight, his words meant a world to me! It was the most reassuring statement I had heard in years! Only the one who is connected to you at such a deep level could offer such assurance and confidence.

Only UG, it appeared in the entire world knew what I was going through!

Needless to say, my difficulties soon came to an end! Shortly after UG's trip, I found a friendly bank manager who forwarded my loan application with high recommendation citing my 'impeccable' record of previous loan repayments and got me a sizable loan to help me knock off all my existing liabilities.

I was given a lease of life! First time in years I started breathing easy!

My deadly encounter with the debt-trap had left me with invaluable lessons on personal finance. Through this nerve-wracking experience, I garnered tremendous insights about housing and personal finance - the bedrock of social finance!

I began to share my learning with all and counselled many of my colleagues and friends on personal finance. I played the role of a lead negotiator for my airline and crusaded against unethical and unfair trade practices of financial institutions in the ill-regulated Indian banking sector. This effort earned me the much coveted invitation from the Indian Express group to do columns for their Sunday Express supplement.

UG in a strange way had come to my rescue and had averted a paralysing disaster! When he learnt of the invitation from the media group, he openly and unequivocally supported my role as a columnist on financial literacy.