The day I bid to folly

It was a typical friday morning.. the weekend was just around the corner and grinning at me.. ! As always I was hooked up to my lappie for two reasons.. 1) To check and see if there were any critical or important mails in my office mailbox.. and 2) To work on my farm on farmville.. lol.. Yes, very recently a very nice person, introduced me to this and ever since I been addicted to farmville.. sad part is I never get enough neighbours.. for whatever reasons I wouldnt know.. lol..

Coming back to the story.. so I was logged into facebook and was doing the routine stuff of fertilising my neighbours farms, when I saw this AD appear on facebook which said.. Apple iPhones at 25 paise.. !! Normally I overlook such ads, because at the back of the mind I always have this fear, that I might end up in a phishing website.. but as they say curiosity kills the cat.. ! I became curious and clicked on it to see what was in store for me.. It was a penny auctions website, and I was looking around at the site and saw that offer again.. Imagine.. a 40+k iPhone being put up on auction for a mere 25 paise !! Greed overtook me, and I decided to try my luck as well... I quickly signed up to this website, and decided to bid for it as well.. the said asked me to confirm my mail ID before I get 1 "free" bid, that I could use.. in a jiffy i confirmed my email ID, earned my free bid, and with a valorous grin, click on the bid button.. and voila!! I was the top person on the bid list.. The item had just another 30 minutes to go before the auction expires and I was getting excited.. I sat glued to my lappie, staring at it.. 10 minutes past.. and gosh ! someone else bid for it as well.. I was panicked.. I couldnt let go of it.. I immediately looked around in the site, to figure out, how to get more bids.. and that was where I fell into the trap.. !!

The site said.. I could "Buy 12 bids" at 690 rupees.. If it was me in full senses, I would have probably said "bugger off"!! But here I was in a frenzy.. I had to win this auction.. I didnt know what took over me.. I decided to go ahead and buy 12 bids... I found that the auctions site, offered paypal.. I had a paypal account.. I immediately was on the way to checkout using paypal, trying to buy it.. but some thing happened, and my checkout failed.. the omens were all telling me... "Dude, stay out.. you are being a complete jack-ass!!".. but I wasnt to be seeing it.. I came back to the auctions site, chose credit card as the payment method and in a flash, had made the payment and got 12 bids, to my account.. I was now a triumphant man !! I immediately went back to the iPhone auction and clicked on Bid button.. phew! my name was again on the top of the list..

I sat and waited.. every minute seemed like an hour to me.. I could hear my mum yelling out.. "Kanna.. you are running late to work, its 9.45".. I wasnt paying any attention to her words.. as the minutes slowly ticked by, and I was in the last minute, before the auction expired and that glamourous iPhone was mine..! it was close to just 5 seconds before  it expired.. it was like watching a cricket match.. yes yes.. the India Pakisthan match ofcourse.. !

That was when I was taken by surprise.. I was shocked.. someone else bid for it.. and the timer reset itself back to 20 seconds.. I hit the bid button frantically.. my first paid bid was gone and to make things worse, I now had another dude/dudette competing with me.. it was like a do or die situation for me.. and that was when the whole thing hit me.. I could see atleast a dozen people bidding one after the other... I bid.. and bid.. and bid.. I had exhausted 4 of my bids and there was still no signs of the auction closing.. the price of the item was only increasing by "a paisa" for each bid.. I decided to calm down, wait and watch.. minutes ticked by in a flash.. 15 minutes were gone and the bid game was still on... I was running late for a Call.. I had to decide to give up... that was when I started feeling miserable.. 700 hard earned rupees blew off in a flash, and I didnt even buy anything, not even a dress, nor spend it for my parents or my friends .. not for a movie.. not in a restaurant.. I blew it away in an internet gamble.. ! I felt like kicking myself, for the folly that I had committed.. I could even hear Manmohan Singh talking about Economic policies and inflation and what not.. (dont ask me, why was I hearing all that.. I have no clue..)

Just 30 minutes, back I was explaining to my dad, how such bidding websites, trap you, into spending all your money.. and what happens.. 30 minutes later, I fall for the same trap.. I could even literally see all those proverbs which talk about hard work being the only way to come up in life .. ! I felt like I had committed a heinous crime.. ! I came to work with a heavy heart of being a complete idiot.. and promised myself.. never again will I try my hand at my luck.. and never get into bidding things, without completely understanding the entire thing.. !

I checked the same website by noon, and to my surprise, the bidding was still going on for that item.. from 25 paise, the price had come to 8.50 rupees and was still going on.. I checked a couple of minutes back.. the auction finally closed, at 10.41 rupees.. and someone won that 44k iPhone at a meagre 10 rupees !!! That was more than what I could handle..
Sigh.. ! Imagine, what all greed makes you do...