Its that time of the year when...

Didchya expect that I'm gonna talk about X'mas and the spirit of X'mas? You've missed the correct answer by a mile. It is that time of the year when theives, cat burglers and other assorted scumbags stalk the innocent citizens of the city. Yeah, burglary seems to be the hottest thing in town. Car wheels and stereos are being removed, houses are being broken into in broad daylight, shopkeepers are being relieved of their of their cash boxes and so forth. Last night was another of those nights when the power failed for a brief while. A gentleman who operates a PCO business was accosted by a "stranger in the dark" who asked to place a cell phone call to a nearby district (calls on cell phones are cheaper than on land lines). even before the poor shop owner knew what was happening, the stranger in the dark had dissolved into the darkness...with the cell phone.

A couple of weeks back, burglar(s) broke into our bachelor pad and decamped with considerable booty - a SONY video camcorder, a NIKON camera, a SONY walkman, 4 wrist watches and 160 USD in cash. Like all honest-to-god citizens, we filed complaints with the local police.

And what are the police doing? Well, their increasing waistlines might be a good pointer towards their proclivities. The police are doing what they do best - nothing. One begins with an initial complaint followed by a typed and signed letter detailing the personal effects lost. The SI and a documentation person then visit the scene of crime. You then pay back the respect by visiting the police station half a dozen times... to find the SI misSIng or assuring you in loud boasts that the culprits would be brought to the book. Result: You begin to believe that your personal effects have become things of the past.

The khakhi has many colors. You begin to realise those subtle yet covert hints at a "gift" to get your lost effects back. At first you find it incredulous. Then you begin to debate and weigh the pros and cons of bribing the police to get your personal effects back. Finally you decide its better to have been robbed once and lost than robbed twice and lost more. So hashed though the comparisons are, you take refugee in Hinduism and the Wolf - Hinduism for guiding the mind to move away from material pleasures and the Wolf for teaching us to say "The grapes are sour", when the grapes happen to be beyond our reach.

So I chant,

Video cameras are gadgets so uncool
SLR's are no fun either, you fool
Walkmen don't produce great sound
Japanese watches are not swadeshi, I've found
And lets resist American imperialism by saying NO to the Dollar ...and embrace instead, the Pound.