Wednesday, April 21, 2010

To catch a thief

The day dawned as any other morning. After the usual hullabaloo I create while getting ready to work, I jumped onto my scooty and rode out of the porch. Hubby dear was there to see me off as he went to office only about 11a.m.
“ Hey”, said he pointing to the drainage canal in front of house. Through the yawning where the slabs weren’t there, he could see two small crow bars.
“Look, thief’s tools”
“Where?”, asked I putting on the brakes.
“Here.”
“Where?”, I asked again craning my neck
“You get off that or bring it closer”
I tried to push the scooty to edge and almost ended up in the drains
“OK, you continue your investigation. I am off”, and I rode off

I returned home early the day. I was already into my home wear when I heard hubby pulling up his car outside. The boys too came in at the same time from play. So, I got busy pushing them into shower. Ten minutes had passed and hubby had not walked in. I went out to investigate.

There was small crowd gathered at the neighbour’s gate. Hubby’s wrinkle free trousers were stainful- seems he had jumped into the dry drain( thankfully of rainwater) to pick the crowbars. The neighbour who lived alone held them in his hands. Real beauties, they were. Fashioned to prick and open any heavy door with minimum effort. Everyone was super excited. The ideas of who left it, when and will the thief be back to pick them up….topics of animated conversations were many.

One guy came up with the suggestion, “Let’s wait and keep watch and when he comes, we flash torchlight to his face!”
“And catch him” , added another
“ No. no.”, the first guy continued. “See, when we flash light, he will run and we will be able to recognize him, later when the police catch him”
And so on went the intelligentsia.

The boys too were there at the boundary wall listening to this major problems adults had.
Soon, they too were ready for the thief, armed with cricket bats.
Bumbum even had a tune on lips,
“Oh, yeah,
The thief is appeared”(excuse his grammar)

“ Let’s inform the police”
“No good” said another
“We keep watch. The thief will come today to make the attempt”, said the enlightened husband.
“OK. That seems the best idea” and the crowd dispersed. The crowbars were in safe custody of neighbour. Hubby came in for shower and tea. He did not want any snack as important things were to be discussed for the night.

I thought of renaming the junction as dumbo junction. Did these people really think that the thieves will show up after all that commotion they had created? And what’s more, hubby went to the nearby bakery which sends out flash news just to spread the word. With that action, the thief could no longer be unaware.

Meanwhile we had two small power breaks. And then we had dinner and watched TV. After the enthusiastic kids were asleep, hubby dear was ready with his counterpart- our neighbour. And they kept watch till 3 am. I checked once a while till 1.15am and after that slept like a log.

Next morning, hubby misses gym, sleeps late, is in a bad mood. Anyway, he has to go to school to collect books. As he gets out, the police jeep arrives. The neighbour hands over the tools. The police examine them, ask few question, throw it in the jeep and speed away. I take the nylon rope ( to tie the thief to the electric post), kept on the water meter, inside.

25 comments:

  1. So much for a thief! :D
    The written narration was as good (and even better) as the verbal. Loved Bumbum's rap and hats off to your hubby dear, his counterpart and then the neighbour who had that brilliant idea of flashing torchlight on the theif's face! Out of the world, really :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. :).. idea was good.. but catch him.. tie him and beat the daylight out of him..

    and hey the nylon rope.. nice one you can use it to put clothes outside he hehehe

    you never know . .ask the hubby to be on night patrol .. maybe a dumb thief ha haha

    loved the article :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. OMG! Thats a serious topic told lightly! Very nice.:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I enjoyed reading this hilarious post

    ReplyDelete
  5. HAHAHAHAHA.....awesome Post.I wish I have such an awesome family post marriage. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Very interesting and enjoyed every word in the post.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Awww...:-) All that was left was bad mood!!
    Nicely narrated :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Funny one..I remembered the Htichkokian phrase 'catching a thief'

    ReplyDelete
  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Whoa..!

    What an adventurous night! Nice funny post. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. heehee me likes Bumbum's tune :)
    so you have a local BBC eh? Bakery Broadcasting Corporation :D

    ReplyDelete
  12. Destiny's child
    Just 2.5 kms away.

    Bikram
    Happy to see you all smiles

    Jyothi
    But the situation was funny to the core.

    K Parthasarathi
    At your service for laughs.

    Insignia
    And the thief at bay

    Tomz
    Investigative humour, I call it

    Tulika
    Adventure that did not happen

    Pratik Gupta
    May your wish be granted

    Bk Chowlaji
    Wish you could have seen it unfold

    ReplyDelete
  13. ha ha ..what a commotion!May be they were someone elses tools...it can also be that the thief kept them there to announce his arrival lolz!!
    Loved the post...our imagination can really take us places.... :D

    ReplyDelete
  14. I know wrong post to say about; but loved the narration..I hope ur hubby's mood is fine now :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. And if a thief did turn up after all that commotion (dumb thief in dumbo junction!), would they (night patrol men!) have done all that? - Flash the torch onto his mug, catch him, beat him with cricket bats, tie him up to the electric post with nylon ropes....! Loved the narration all the same :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Shruthi
    BBC indeed!

    A New Beginning
    Tools in drain, well, one can never say!

    Neha
    OH! That lasted only the morning.

    RGB
    ONly if they caught the thief...

    ReplyDelete
  17. What adventure!! These incidents spice up our lives, though they can be pretty serious too. I am glad you saw the funny side of it. And in the process regaled us :-)

    ReplyDelete
  18. you really made light of a serious topic! Loved reading it.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Times like these are funny!!!
    Now..that reminds me it happens only in India...where Each one of us bothers about wassup with the neighbour...
    Lovely post:)

    ReplyDelete
  20. i would have connected the crowbar to a power outlet and left it there .. wicked me

    Nice narration ..really and ask ur hubby to keep uo the vigil

    ReplyDelete
  21. Aparna
    It was plain ridiculous.

    Sujata
    But it was fun

    Sorcerer
    Ahem! Thank You

    Jaunty Anima
    OH! They were just brothers(neighbours) in distress.

    Scarlet Pimpernel
    Not a bad idea. But I would have absent mindedly touched it

    ReplyDelete
  22. This is a fantastic post !!Thanks for sharing !!

    ReplyDelete
  23. well narrated..transformation from thriller[:)] to a roll down laugh..gr8!!

    ReplyDelete