You've Got Mail

Every day, atleast half a pound of trash comes in the mail. This includes mailers advertising shinier teeth, a quick and easy solution to mold in your bathroom, car washes and efficient carpet cleaning services. It also includes discount coupons (Get $2 off a Loreal Excellence Creme Hair Color, $3 off on Covergirl Make up and so on) and lots of other signs of a booming consumer market. My immediate reaction was to draw comparions with 'back home'(this has become an oft-used, abused, misued phrase for me).This did not happen on a weekly basis and in such quantities as this in India(if it did, we all sure would have made some money happily selling it to the cycle-riding kabadi).In addition to mailers, a lot of bills come in too , and these i disdainfully keep aside for the husband's attention. But this week i caught a glimpse of something that did interest me. Finally.
My add-on credit card had arrived. YAY!!(little jig around the living room ,followed by a quick phone call to the husband sharing the good news) Finally, i need not worry about carrying enough quarters, 5-dollar bills and the rest of the dollar currency community everytime i step out to get a coffee, groceries or a Victoria's Secret ridiculously expensive bra.

The problem with being new to this country and not having a job is that as an individual, you are not earning, not borrowing, and therefore do not have the all-important credit score (without which, pls forget about getting a loan at decent rates of interest, and unfortunately for me, a credit card). So till the time my job turns up and the green guys start to come in, i will have to be appeased with an add-on card. This for an ex-Area Sales Manager for the largest city of the third-largest credit card in India. Ironic, but there it is.

Coming back to the mailbox. Normally, i send all the mailers straight to the dumpster in the Recyclable Newspaper and Other Paper Inserts section. But on some days, when the book i would at that time be reading pulls a "come back at a later time" on me (and that happens often, especially with the larger volumes that might be award-winning stuff alrite, but are sure muscle-building and mind-numbing too!), i flip through them nonchalantly, not expecting to find a deal of my interest. Most gorcery stores offer great discounts on pet food, sirloin steak and other beefy meats, lately large buttery turkeys, Halloween candles and Trick-or Treat knick-knacks. All of them fail to make my cut.
If i am lucky, i manage to spy a good deal on Diet Coke cans, seedless raisins, Maybelline lipsticks and maybe cereal. But the joy stops there.
Despite their uselessness (mostly) for me, i appreciate the basic concept of these large, colorful , recycled paper mailers. They do indeed make their customer think about dropping in, offering great discounts as they do on what are critical ingredients of a happy American household.And they have contributed to my growing knowledge of the zillion kinds of luncheon meat, muffin mixes and the rest of the aisles.So even though i continue to carry them out in heaps every week to the corner dumpster, i have started respecting them by giving them a once-over. Its all about 'getting the right deals' here.And i shall continue to search...