A MasterCard moment

“For everything else there is MasterCard…” remember the famous commercial? The message was set behind an emotive background and left a subtle feeling of not letting money come in the way of celebrating and enjoying special moments. It also left some of more traditional folks a bit unconvinced who saw this an attempt to commercialize human bonds and coax users to take on more debt. The commercial covered human relationships across streams of lives, touching almost every humankind on planet – credit card spending humankind.

I always lived with this seeming mistrust of MasterCard which in some ways extended to all card companies. I got my answer on a beautiful winter evening of 28-Dec-2013.

Crisp winter evening of North India, clear skies, fresh air, live music contributed to a momentous day for some 50 out of 90 of us from the class of 1988 – St. John’s School Class 10. We were the guests of honor for the alumni meet of our school given this was our 25^th year from school. Set in Chandigarh – a small quiet city that gives one of the highest education seats per resident ratio in the country – the St. John’s annual alumni party is one of the few most awaited events of the city. The party is by invitation only with a guest list running over 1500 every year. Given the alumni network is well placed and influential, such parties get their share of sponsors and good food and brilliant music. I had been lazy every year and never made it to the annual bash but wanted desperately to attend this party as it was for us, the 25^th year of passing for us. And I wanted this one to count for me. I thus set out for this party, a 5 hour ride from Gurgaon my current home. I drove in just in time for the party, all dressed up for the 8pm entry. With the excitement of a 5 year old to meet up so many of my old friends who I had not seen in 25 years, I drove into the party and got myself a valet parking. Expecting a warm welcome from the reception team at the venue which included an old friend, I was stunned to get some sharp stares from the 5 pairs of eyes. I had missed the fine print on the invite – it was a black-tie event and I was in my finest leather jacket and Tommy jeans and cowboy boots. Couldn’t be farther from reality, and this reality hit me real hard like a stone. With hopes dashed and protests rejected, I sulked back into my car. My mind worked on options – like borrowing clothes – and kept rejecting these options equally fast for inability to land up with a right sized appropriate clothing. Dejected I started my drive back for the night to my parents place in the town – at a speed just shy of a bicycling toddler. Just when I was reconciling myself to a nice evening with my parents – by no means an option that I don’t like, fate gave me some hope as I crossed a shopping mall. After calculating my ROI I stepped into the mall with a hope to land-up a decent $100 suit. The best option available was for $175-$200 – depending on how and when you calculate the Rs to $ conversion. This is not a small sum to carry around in cash. I tried out my American Express card which was turned back as the machine was out of order. Time running out for me and with my last option in my pocket I presented my MasterCard with a faint prayer on my lips. And someone heard me up there and also in turn delivered me my MasterCard message.

Now dressed up appropriately and zooming back through the 10-min drive, I started my journey into an unforgettable experience. I was speechless to see all the familiar “mature” faces, drinking and dancing on music that we grew with – the 80s. To be clicked with Jeev Milkha Singh – India’s top pro golfer and my former classmate, to crack jokes with India’s National Skating champion Bobby Singh whose present portly-self qualified him behind a cashier’s desk than a sports field, to share a drink with the Managing Director of Reliance Mutual Fund – another class mate, to hear some inspiring career journeys, to be called “Aunty” again (I have till date never figured out why was I called Aunty at school),  to re-call back all the old crushes at school, to live back old school days  – all was priceless. Needless to say I would not even known what I would have missed if I were not in the party. Thank you MasterCard for enabling this experience, a memory that will not go away easily.

Illustrations below –

Photographs from the event

My MasterCard transaction on my Citibank card (in red)