PARTLY FACETIOUS: The art of borrowing

“Can you lend me a hundred thousand rupees?”

“Don’t have it, sorry. Just tighten your belt…”

“Hey my credit rating is kinda down, I heard your credit rating is OK.”

“You want me to borrow to lend to you?”

“Yes and I will pay you back, I mean my house is more than a crore, so there is absolutely no way I will ever default.”

“What do you want the money for?”

“My household staff needs a raise – they made so many sacrifices during the pandemic, never took leave, and that was a great help to me…”

“Dear me, you sound like a Pakistani finance minister: borrowing from one…”

“Hafeez Sheikh, Shaukat Tareen borrowed from Kris.”

“Kris?”

“You say Kristalina, I say Kris! What the hell! That was the first name that came to me.”

“Don’t be facetious.”

“No, seriously, it was a random…”

“Please stop.”

“OK anyway Dar would borrow from Bob (outside the country), Shamshad Akhtar borrowed from Shaukat (inside the country).”

“Let her be, she is gone!”

“Till the next caretaker set up, which could be anytime from now till five years from now.”

“Hey back off will you anyway, I ain’t taking a loan to allow you to give your staff a raise.”

“I told you my house…”

“You offering it to me as collateral?”

“No way. And you are no friend in need. I will go to the bank. The manager is a friend of mine, and I will put up the cheap vase you gave me as collateral.”

“That wasn’t worth the…”

“I know, so put that in your pipe and smoke it.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024