Thieves, Burglars, Stealers...how should we call these people?!

I googled this photo! Isn't it beautifulll? My kittens are here!

No, no, don't worry, no one has stolen our cats or kittens, yet, directly! 2 beautiful kittens went missing and we never saw them again...somebody must have 'taken' them home.

This is the story of our family's experience with different types of thieves through the years!

Is he looking scary enough? (googled photo!)

1. The thief who ran away with my treasures in our ration bag!

This happened around 1975! After my marriage, we were staying in a very old house, just two houses next to the Nungambakkam Police station in Chennai. I was working and on one Saturday morning I had left the house at about 7.30 am and my husband locked the house and left for work at around 9.30 am. When I came back home at 1.30 pm (half-a-day working day on Saturdays), the grill in the window (just plain straight rods and not very thick) next to our main door was bent nicely into a huge hole. We could have locked the inside room doors but we never did that (we were young, you know! I must remember this when youngsters make mistakes!). I went inside and noticed that my 5 Kg. rice bag which was kept in the kitchen was not there. The rice was lying scattered on the floor! Then I noticed that my 2 wedding sarees, some nice silver things which were given to me in my wedding (we had kept only that much in a suitcase at home!) etc. were missing. The thief must have put the things in the rice bag and absconded.

We complained to the police...


2. The thief who went off with my precious transistor in a bicycle looking back at me (with a smile?!):

When this happened, we lived in a three room ground floor house. The time must have been mid-morning. I was chatting with my neighbour in the second room (the rooms were in a straight line!). We noticed some movement in the front room, came out and saw no one there. We went out near the gate and looked out...we saw a man with something in his hand going on a bicycle...he looked back at me too! I and my neighbour came back and noticed that my transistor radio which I used to keep in an open shelf near the front door was missing and slowly it dawned in my mind that the thief was holding it in his hand when I saw him!

If I had shouted somebody would have stopped his bicycle!


3. Motorbike thief:

One night we heard some sound outside our house! We noticed in the morning that my husband's first Motorbike, a Rajdoot, was gone! My husband 'paid' Rs.500 to the police and he found it in some workshop, completely dismantled! My husband lost interest to claim it, but the policeman was after him...he wanted to make some more money out of this case!

4. Chain Snatcher:

My husband was sleeping near an open window and his chain was snatched at night through the window. He is very sensitive even while sleeping and could feel the hand on his neck. As soon as the chain was 'gone', we woke up immediately and went out and saw no one.

The next day a policeman came to enquire after we complained. He came straight into our hall crossing our dog, Andy, who was sitting on the first doorstep, watching some crows which were sitting on our gate. The policeman heard our story and asked, "thirudan varachche inda periyavar yenna pannindu irundaar? Ippa naa ulle varachche vedikke paaththa maadiri pannaaraa?" (What did this old man do when the thief came inside? Was he watching like he is doing now, when he came too?)! Our Andy barks if he sees someone with a dirty lungi and that person should come in front of his eyesight...this old man will never get up and chase people, that too, if he came in a full pant!

This policeman 'selavukku' (for expenditure!) took Rs.500 and the story was over! My husband named the thief 'Somasundaram', just for fun and we were asked to close the doors and windows to be careful, otherwise Somasundaram would come to steal!


5. Car thief...this one is the top story and so, I have kept it as the last story (we didn't loose anything after that!):

This happened nearly 15-17 years back! My husband had bought a second hand Ambassador car as soon as he started his business. He had a feeling that it was a lucky car and though we had bought a new car afterwards, he kept this car with him. Suddenly one day he decided to repair it and it came home like a brand new car, with nice upholstery, stereo, beautiful interior, A/C etc. We must have used it for 6 months or so.

One day when he came home from his office, he noticed his nephew's car parked just in front of our gate. He left his car behind that car and came in and asked his nephew to park the car a bit further the road. The nephew said that he was just leaving and as it happens always, stood near the door and chatted for 5-10 mts. Then he opened the gate, started to get inside his car and looked behind and asked, "Yenge maama unga car?"(maama, where is your car?). My husband who was standing near the gate peeped out and saw the empty space! The car was gone! My husband had left the key in the ignition and came in, thinking that he would come back immediately to park the car inside the gate!

Immediately some of our neighbours came out and started discussing about what would have happened. One neighbour said that some people with white dhoti and white shirt, who looked like politicians were leaning on our car and chatting. We saw such people standing together, a few feet away and chatting. We went and asked them if they had seen anyone driving our car. They said no.

As usual we complained to the police, gave some money for 'expenditure', but nothing happened.

I was upset about this episode more because a new cello (water bottle) and my favourite 'Guna' film song cassette was inside the car! I quoted this often and later on, it became a big joke in our family circle...Sandhya did not get worried because she lost the beautiful car, but got worried because she lost her 'Guna cassette'!

Now, tell me, have you ever faced these types of thieves in your life?!


Edited to add on 19.08.10: Guna film song which is my favourite!