Fooling the Gullible

10.5.10

Street smarts , they say , are best learned on the streets. What better place can there be than the tough streets of Mumbai? If you can survive the rough and tumble in this city, chances are you can do it anywhere on earth. The lessons learnt here can be useful in far flung areas of your life later. You must have the wisdom and the intelligence to draw an analogy and corelate.

One of the earliest con games I have seen has left a lasting impression and comes back again and again as a reference point in many of the sophisticated fast ones that are pulled on us from time to time. Be it book building, price rigging. circular trading or what have you.

Roughly 40% of this megapolis' population has no choice but to commute by local trains. Besides your workplace, much of your time and energy is spent in getting from one place to another. Most other activities, from buying vegetables or undies or sundries on the way back home to downing a beer are ancillary activities to this commuting.

Among the longest foot overbridges on this network is the one at Matunga. It starts on the Western Rly side and ends on the Central Rly side, and is a goodish km+ long.When the traffic is thin, this overbridge can give you the creeps. It has the typical " Nikaal, Ghadiyal nikaal, nahin to cheerke rakh doonga" ambience.

This foot overbridge is also home to enetrpreneurs hawking newspapers, flowers, lemonade, undies/hankies, lottery tickets etc. This is commonplace at most stations.

The more enterprising guys turn a trick called teen patti. It is a typical "get rich quick!" lure. To set shop, all that is needed is a pack of cards and a box of sorts toplace these cards. And most important, cronies who impersonate members of the general public.

This is how the trick goes: The bloke deals the cards and gets himself surrounded ( almost hidden ) by half a dozen of his cronies. This small crowd is the nucleus to garner the attention of the passersby. The bloke lets a couple of his cronies win, curses them for impoverishing him, discourages them from playing more and says others also should be given a chance. Couple of his cronies move away to create an impression of authenticity. Once the system is cranked, there is a steady stream of gullible fools who are ripped off subtly. They even have a trick to assess how much cash the bakra is carrying. One of the bloke's cronies will ask for change of a large denomination note ( if this note is a dud , then a double whammy ! ). Anyone from the crowd who volunteers change is targeted for a rip off. The usual trick is to let him earn a profit on small wager, induce him to raise the stakes and finally zilch!

......... To be continued