Greatest curse of modern times, undoubtedly this dubious distinction should go to the Ad Industry. It’s tentacles are wide spread and reach every nook and corner of the globe. Blessed are those unaffected by it’s charms. Satan is the presiding devil by virtue (or is it wise to call it a vice) of being the original tempter to mankind’s doom.

Advertising attacks all your senses, there is no escape from it during one’s wakeful hours, it tries to dictate the mode, style and comfort of sleep as well. It moulds the lifestyles of everyone. It’s range is mind boggling- from a few thousand bucks to multi-billion dollar business. It dictates terms and conditions for conducting any event.

What is saddening is the abuse of all norms. There is a saying “All is fair in love and war”, which the Ad Industry seems to have now modified, as “All is fair in Ads and bloody Ads”. For example the cola campaigns, etc. The Ad agencies do not concede an inch of their ground for love or anything. The most sickening part of Advertising is the irrelevance of the subject matter and it’s presentation. One glaring anomaly is the use of women in the name of glamour, whether the subject matter of the ad-campaign requires even remotely such use or not. The day may be not far off when some enterprising adman would not hesitate to use some lithe lass in a shaving advertisement, remember the Godrej shaving advertisement which ends with a bearded man saying “Me”. The bearded man can be easily replaced with a glamorous girl who may appear like a man from behind, but when she turns to face the camera oozes lots of oomph. Watch out! Beware of Ad-wares.

Coming to the most unpleasant feature of my Credit Card is that, when other banks are giving lifetime free cards, each year I have to beg, and use veiled threats of canceling the credit card if the annual charge is not withdrawn from the statement. The card people play some sort of cat and mouse game and then give credit for the annual fee, and this has been going on for the past three years. It’s become an annual ritual-I couldn’t stop performing.

One more unpleasant feature of credit card -and this is a common problem for all credit card holders, irrespective of the Brand name it goes with-that when you want to buy things like computers, peripherals, gold and other items, the seller eventually robs the customer, an additional 2 to 2.5% in the name of credit card fees.

One thing which goes in favour of my credit card is it reduced the burden of paying my LIC premium bills every quarter, which makes me indifferent to it’s other follies.