A Love Story of An Innocent Investor

And he regretted hard. He regretted of breaking up with her after years of togetherness. He regretted of not investing in the share market earlier, but he regretted of investing in the share market now. Just like the up and downs of market cycle, just like the waves in oceans, he regretted of missing her at this instant time. He didn’t know: why is he missing her. But the strange fact is he didn’t know who she was. (Beware: This share story can be a horror story. Make your heart strong right now.)

The light of his room was off but rays from that new solar-powered street light installed on the rainy eve of Fiscal year were killing darkness of midnight. A pair of purple eyes could be traced on a corner of his room. A Cat with Purple eyes? (Purple eyes? OMG) The magnitude of tranquility at that night was quite high but his mind wasn’t. He raised his legs from a heap of the blanket from the bed and landed them on the ceiling of the 2nd floor of that building which would make his floor and then headed towards the half-opened window. A gentle breeze with midnight scent touched his neck.

He remembered the electrifying touch of her hands on his fingers. It was the story of six months back when she had come to meet him. While the refreshing the website of stock market time and again and seeing the inability of that website to be freely open, she had understood his frustration, and then she had tried to relieve his anger through sweet and cute talks. In fact, he had forgotten that he was a stock trader in her presence. They had spent a whole trading session of that day together. He had felt then- he loved being an investor of love rather than a trader of stocks.

He tried to recall a scene of a movie-the name of which he had recently forgotten in the short past. Just like that scene where the Hero of the film gazes the vast sky to count some shining stars from the window of an apartment in a drunken mood with some good memories of his beloved heroine, he tried to replicate the same. But there were no stars in the sky tonight. Dark clouds of monsoon had covered those “twinkle twinkle little star”. Just then he wondered how complex our stock markets are!

No more bad luck and “life damage huney events” had hit him before than this time. The market was closed for nearly three months for no special reason for the virus. While the whole world of investors was busy making the toughest investment decisions of their life, Kharabs of money had become captive in a market halt situation. He could sense of those liquid stocks in pain and could hear them crying being compelled to remain illiquid. They had assured him: market stocks are the most liquid assets, but his paper assets stored in electronic form revolted for liquidity to fulfill their thirst but in vain. What was responsible? Who was responsible? Bicharaa, share haru…rudai rudai how were they able to pass that period of market closure for nearly three months in Demat account logged out? Humans have the right to live free but, no people cared about the right of stock to be traded freely. The right of stocks to trade freely, not be confused with right share, was seized. (Feels like the writer has been drunk….you might be thinking!)

Their story had begun some 6-7 years ago at times of Initial Public Offering. He recalled their first meeting: at sunny afternoon to get an application form for IPO issued then, he was in a long queue. There he had noticed her and their eyes had met for the first time. All significant memories of her flooded inside that projector of his brain one by one now. It was the day they had gone together to open their Demat Account. It had rained all day and under her purple umbrella, they had wandered around the city. It was the aroma of shampoo from her hair that had made him crazy enough to invite her for coffee. He would never forget their first coffee talk where they had discussed about ideas of investing and the fundamentals of different companies.

But who knew that a beautiful story would come to an end with the closure of the market due to COVID-19? Some cups of coffee were what he had with her at their last meeting before lockdown at the same café where they had coffee for the first time. “Euta maanxe ko maaya le kati farak pardaxa jindagi maa?” The singer was asking those people of that café by singing in the background and helping them calculate about how much difference a person’s love can have in one’s life? But nobody cared to answer. He also never ever thought about that. But now he was compelled to calculate: was it her love or his love for stocks that would make a difference in his life?

To be continued…

Sanjay Gelal

(This is a work of fiction influenced by various movies and literary books.)