Tuesday, June 3, 2014

No-Nonsense Chayaisms from the 80s… Lost.....and found!




Lost.....and found!
Finders, they say, are keepers and losers weepers. But I have reason to believe otherwise. Call it bad luck or carelessness, losing anything can be quite heart rending. Finding what was lost is so exhilarating that the earlier agony will be more than compensated. Also there is a peculiar law of justice that is at work, which helps you when your loss is of that which belongs to you rightly!
I remember 12 years ago, we were visiting friends and when we came out after 3 hours, were horrified to find our car missing. The house and our wardrobe keys were in the dash–board and so was my husband’s Dock pass with his name and address on it! Besides the loss of the car, the anxiety of the thief having access to our flat and wardrobe,(especially my sarees!!) was unnerving.
Despite a thorough search by the police they could not trace the missing car. Friends, in their bid to console us, told us various incidents of people stealing cars and driving them away to Nepal. We just gave up hope, changed the front door and wardrobe locks and moaned our misfortune.
Just as we had reconciled our self to the loss, the police traced the car ten days later, parked before the suburban station. Not a thing was missing – expect the dock pass and 30 paisa! Even the police could not believe our luck and the only explanation I have for it is that Providence protects possessions bought of sweat and toil.
Another miracle incident is that of my friend’s son who had drawn two 10,000-rupee bundles from the bank and was returning home. From the bus stop, as he was walking homewards, one bundle fell and he did not notice it. Later, when he discovered the loss, he was distraught and hastened to the police to whom he reported the matter.
About 3 hours later, he was called to the police station where he was overjoyed to find his missing money! It appears a scooterist had found the money and as he picked it up, a cop passed by. The scooterist offered to split the money with the cop for his silence! The cop was outraged, dragged the scooterist to the police station and handed over the money! Wonders never cease!
The most amusing story is that of our friend Ravi Nair. He had stuffed his black pouch which he always carries, with the proceeds from the sale of his car. He went to a department store to pick up some tinned fruit for his wife, met a friend, got into a long conversation, left the pouch on the counter and went home with tinned fruit.
Meanwhile a customer saw the black pouch, looked at it with fear, whispered to the salesman that it looked suspicious and fled. The store manager called the police who brought in their explosive detector and diffuser. The counter was cordoned off and a large crowd gathered around the store. Wild rumours of terrorism circulated.
During all this mayhem, Ravi Nair and his wife were hysterical. She shouted at him, he shouted back and finally both agreed to try their luck and look for the pouch in the department store. They landed just as the police dogs finished a jig around the object. There was a great jubilation when the store keeper, the police and the crowd, discovered the menacing black object was only a pouch containing Rs.60,000/-!!    

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