Lessons from loss

“The naked man fears no thieves.” I don’t remember where I read this line but this is what struck me as I went shopping with a friend yesterday. I had my purse with me. It contained my Blackberry, hair brush, business cards, car keys, sunglasses, lip balm, a pen, some coins but did not contain my wallet – so I had no cash, no credit cards and no debit cards. And I was at Inorbit Mall. How you ask?

I had not left my wallet at home. It was stolen earlier in the morning. At the temple, to be precise. I was standing in line for darshan, the temple was crowded on account of Ram Navami but the line was orderly and moving quickly. I took my wallet out to take some money for the hundi and promptly put it back into my purse and closed the zip. I was ten steps away from God. By the time I had darshan and turned around, my hand protectively went to my purse which I discovered, was open. I peeked in and knew without checking that the wallet was gone. Everything else was untouched. So I had been robbed, in full view of God, in those ten seconds that I had my guard down. I spoke to the policeman on festival duty at the temple, I asked the temple manager to notify me if they found anything. But I know it is impossible to trace the perpetrator and the stolen item.

I did everything I needed to, called up the banks and the cards. I felt stupid, guilty, angry, helpless; all at the same time. I wondered what I had thought or done to deserve this experience, whether I was settling some karmic account. I was also a little amused at how easy I had made it for the thief. I felt grateful when a kind stranger walked up to me and asked if I needed to be dropped home or needed money to head back. I remembered the last time I had been through such an experience, at Trafalgar Square in London. The policeman to whom I complained sought to make me feel better by saying that this kind of things happens every three minutes.

What have I learnt from this lesson? Life happens. I had been ambivalent about the temple visit all morning but went in anyway. I had also had a premonition in a vivid dream just a few hours before the incident. So the prior warning did not necessarily help. I just felt a sense of déjà vu when it did happen in real life. I was lucky to have been with friends who lived in the neighborhood. I was able to block the cards fairly quickly and hope to get the replacements soon. I had the keys to my car so I could have directly gone home if I wanted to. There were unknown people who cared enough to enquire. There is always a way out.

Perhaps the biggest lesson for me is to trust my intuition. But I also know that I am not an inherently suspicious person. I did expect to be safe in the temple but events transpired otherwise. As my friend Shailaja put it, there were other guys praying while waiting in line, just like you. And their prayers were answered.

Someday, mine will be too.