An Experience ... It Was!

Day dawned with surprises which I least expected even in the rarest of my nightmares.

As I stepped in for work the waters that were smooth for a while had become turbulent, as I set my pace pacifying the waters of change, the day had long passed noon and the evening sun was happily setting in the west with a ting of mockery on me!

“ Jashne – E- Bahaara ….” A ring tone for a while took me unguarded by surprise, as I thought the call must be from amma to pick up a some grocery on my way was dulled with Minal’s( My sister) photo on the flash screen. With random thoughts for the reason of the call I quipped “ hello! Tell me if its urgent, I am too busy @ work”.
I was taken aback by the panic stricken voice on the other end “Jini” it went...While my heart pounded hard to get to the core of the matter with shaky voice she added “Can you tell me the our vehicle number” As I went blank for second wondering why I was posed with such a weird question of all while I answered her and gave her the details I expected a reasonable justification for the question. As my sister explained the situation I was rather stunned at the turn of the events. My sister had parked my 2 yr old Scooty Pep in parking area by the time she returned from her appointment of 15 mins, the bike was gone…..
With weird random thoughts gushing in I asked her to relax and check if the vehicle has been taken by the cops for any parking violation. She immediately quipped “ No, I have checked that”
Well this was something to worry about. Just as the worry was setting in all hurry. It struck to me the number I gave her was of my old scooty! Hmm

“Ranj, I think you should learn the new number of your vehicle. You never know when you need it. I am surprised you can’t remember this when you can remember all silly things in life” Echoed from the memories of what my friend had said when I first showed the new bike a month after its purchase in Jan 07. Well the echo now seemed to be instant mockery on my memory power for which I have always been complemented for.

Bah "how can I forget the registration number? "

As I dialed home to get the details ,amma’s ability to digest the fact took longer then I expected while I convinced her daughters were safe and sound. She broke yet another surprise. “Do you know what? There are no original documents in the folder! She exclaimed. Just the Riders Manual and the original copy of the Purchase Bill” Geeks as I screeched Realization from within on how fool hardy I am, hammered the moment.

We managed to fish the number from the Purchase bill, with all of my uncles reassuring me not to worry and keep my cool,I hurriedly rushed from the office building not to miss the shuttle back in all the commotion that had filled the day. As I took my seat I said to myself “Now be done with this, enough is enough! I put the music with a deliberate attempt to rejuvenate the long lost peace of the day!

Generating good revenues to the Airtel’s and Vodofone’s of the world. With marginal contribution to BSNL’s also, the course of action was being discussed over the mobile networks. As one uncle said “First File the FIR no matter what immediately! ” My active thought process was “Immediately??? How can I?? I am still on bus more importantly I am not driving it, for heaven sake its peak hour traffic how can I do it immediately?”
While I checked again to ascertain if I heard right “Yes” came the prompt response. “I will try “I said knowing it cannot happen immediately!

I dashed home picked up the leftovers of documents, dashed out rushing to the police station where my sister had been waiting for over an hour with all the gyan coming from the cops on the do’ and don’ts (Gyan when given free of cost can be very frustrating) As she tried to smile warily at me, I tried to return back a assuring smile “Don’t worry” while it meant, "If Its gone, Its Is gone! No point thinking about it”

Thanks to the media, my assumptions on the cops were rather strong and wrong. I thought they would be people all together from an alien planet with no concern for kindness. I thought hard how to tackle the situation and the aliens, yet another surprise lay in store. Thankfully, good one for its kind in the day.
The cops who were at the station were courteous and kind enough to patiently listen to the incident. While they assured they would trace the vehicle they were amicable and friendly. This created a sense of warmth and security in me while also assuring me that they would seriously launch a search for this lost vehicle.
As they completed the formalities in just an hour, a sense of respect for them had taken its root in me.
As promised they traced my lost vehicle and safely handed that to me.

A good civilian also couriered the orginal documents found in some construction Site ( I thank Mr Yogesh M who took all pains to courier the documents amidst his busy schedule)
While I am bustling with other formalities to set the gadi back to normal shape. Here I share some key insights and learnings from this experience of mine

Key learning this particular day had in store for me are far too many,

*Never keep your original documents in the vehicle no matter what it takes!
*Never lose your cool, ( This is real test for stress, This can be used for Best Manager event if any)
*Tune the mind to senses and presence of mind is very important .
*Always remember to remember the Vehicle number (Thanks to those mocking moments from the memories, I now know why I was asked to remember the Registration number)
*Never take your friends lightly! (They know you better than yourself)
*All the more never Assume (cops are also of the same human race as ours, respect them and they will respect you)
*Beware there are thieves around!

* Trust in god, If its meant to be yours it will be yours anyways!