ROLTA : In 1999-2000 I used to be actively trading in ROLTA a second rung stock between Rs. 65 - Rs. 85 . Those days there were no stock futures. 5 day settlement ; 8 % circuit filter. 1/n

2. KP was very active and he had his K-10 stocks and obviously this was just a middling stock and did not feature in the elite category.

3. After the Y2K scare got over the ICE ( Information tech, Communications, Entertainment) sector saw a massive melt up. I was more keen to participate in the euphoria and forgot about my first love Rolta since it was still not participating. Out of sight out of Mind as it where

4. One fine day a friend pointed out that Rolta too had joined the bandwagon and had crossed Rs. 200. I was aghast. Since there was no carry forward facility available, I borrowed shares from a friend and decided to "short against the box". By then it had touched Rs. 5004

5. Thinking that Rs. 500 was too much I sold and delivered. Lo and Behold in a few days it doubled .

6. To make matters worse, my friend demanded the "loan " back

7. I prayed to all Gods possible and luckily one of the Gods heard me ( partly it looked like ) and Rolta turned down from Rs. 1000 and started its decent and closed that settlement at Rs. 600 . I heaved a sigh of relief and bought back and was ok with a Rs. 100 loss per share.

8. Please don't ask how many shares I had borrowed. Sufficient to lose sleep and wake up in cold sweat was the number .

9. The damn scrip did not stop there . It went back to its 'native place" in a few weeks from there ( Rs. 65-Rs. 75 ) since the entire market crashed in March 2000. So what's that got to do with Motherson Sumi? Rolta was a "concept" stock in CAD-CAM s/w having clients in Europe

10. They also had great plans of diversification etc. The MD was a media favorite & regularly appeared on TV ,talked up the stock & made it a 10 bagger b/w 2005 &'07. It crashed in 2008 by 90 %. Tried once more and it was a 3 bagger b/w 2014-15 and then crashed again.

11. It now trades at 4 & nobody calls the MD to the TV studios anymore. .

12. MORAL OF THE STORY : Like then, as it's now, the TV anchors mollycoddle these guys and never ask tough questions which they can and should..

13. I don't advise shorting such scrips since one never knows how long they will defy gravity, but sooner or later they will go back to their native place . Thanks for reading